As I wrote about in my field report on Fair Park, I’m a big fan of art deco architecture. I think the design of art deco is a perfect description of the era of the roaring twenties, great depression, and the post war recovery. In any shoot, my goal is to put people in environments they feel confront able in. My other goal is to find environments that they can relate to. For example, you wouldn’t bring a preppy girl to the fort worth stock yards. Instead, go to Lakeside park in Highland Park or White Rock Lake if they had more of a bohemian style. Erin and I have similar styles. Both of us enjoy wearing black, garments with small patterns, and very modern but simple pieces. We were the perfect match to do a photoshoot together. For the past few months, I had thought about approaching her about doing a shoot together, but never found the right opportunity. So when Erin approached me about an shoot idea, I jumped at the oppurtunity. I knew exactly where to go.
Originally, I recommended shooting in Fair Park. After talking about it, we decided on west dallas instead. We were going to shoot on the Continental Ave pedestrian bridge next to the Margret Hunt Hill bridge. On our first attempt for the shoot, I drove over to Erin’s place to pick her up around 6 am. After waiting out of her apartment for half an hour, I left. I got a panicked text later in the day explaining that she had slept through three alarms. About a week later, we tried again, this time, it was overcast. After talking about it for a bit, Erin and I decided to explore Dallas for a bit just to be sure we wanted to shoot on the Continental Ave bridge. We drove down to Trinity Grove and after exploring for about 20 minuets, we decided to taking a look at a few other place I shoot. I will be detailing my opinions on the Continental Ave. bridge in a future Field Report. Next, we went down to the east side of Downtown Dallas, Deep Elum, and even over to White Rock Lake. After talking for a bit, I convinced Erin that she should at least take a look at Fair Park. We drove over to the fair ground, and as soon as I parked, Erin feel in love. At one point, she told me that she would have never expected such beautiful art deco architecture in Dallas. After walking around the Hall of State, she was sold and we set a date for about a week and a half later for the shoot.
We decided to shoot during the evening because due to the alignment of the golden hour. This alignment was with the Hall of State which was the perfect back drop for the shoot. Erin effortlessly commanded the shoot with her presence. I was astonished of her modeling abilities. Anything I asked of her, she was able to perform perfectly. During the shoot, I was going for photos that made a statement. When you see them, they call to you in someway. I think many of these photos accomplished that task. Erin was a remarkable model and it was a pleasure to work with her before she moves to France in a few weeks.
