A while ago I joined the meetup.com ”Bay Area Model Photo Shooters” (BAMPS) group … the group hires models and several photographers sign up to split the price of the model. Each gets time with the model and it’s a great way to learn. Unfortunately the guy who organizes it has different opinions on models than I do: usually they’re not very pretty, look like whores (excuse my language, but it’s true!), don’t know how to pose, have awful make-up, or are hired strictly to be naked. Not my kind of thing.
Enter Shanza … when I saw the event to shoot with Shanza as the model it was the first time I thought to myself ”I want to sign up!” It sold out in 5 minutes. Oh well, I missed my chance. I began to follow Shanza on Facebook. She began to follow me back. One evening I got a message from her: ”I love your work. We should collaborate on a shoot sometime!” The first thing that went through my head was ”Shanza! No way she just emailed me! She wants a LANDSCAPE photographer to shoot her?!” Instead I replied ”when?!”
After way too long figuring out a free day we met up on Treasure Island and spent about 2 hours shooting. After playing in front of some old doors, sneaking into a steel structure area, playing in a trolley, and 3 costume changes we came home with a gazillion images.