One of the great aspects of being a photographer is the opportunity to work on location. Shooting in the desert, on the beach or in the city brings a whole new set of challenges but when planned and executed professionally can be very rewarding. In this digital age of photoshop many might say that there is no longer a  reason to go on location. It could be argued that these days you can shoot the product in the studio and photoshop it into a stock location shot. The following set of images have been posted for two reasons. One is to give a look behind the scenes to show what it takes to pull off a location shoot. The second is to show that sometimes there are important nuances in the image that can only happen while shooting on location. Scouting the location in advance to determine camera angle, time of day, the setting of the sun (always carry a compass) and other logistics is a must. Then contracting for the right equipment and crew is critical. The crane was used to avoid walking on the sand to maintain the natural textures created by the wind. The most interesting detail of the picture was created by leaving the door in position for a few hours before the shoot to allow the wind to shape the sand around the door. You can see the “waves” in the sand much like current created in water as it passes by a tree in a river.

The next 3 shots are taken from a series of 5 images we made for the MTA to introduce a new line of buses. The logistics of tying up traffic and maneuvering a bus thorugh city streets did not seem worth the time and expense so we shot the bus in the MTA yard at the same time of day that we shot the background assuring that they would feel harmonious as they were composed in Photoshop.