portrait photography session on my trip to Adana, Turkey
We were planning to photograph in the cotton fields at sunset, Ellen and I. Given the fact that I am new to the area, I asked my father-in-law to take me there the day before so I would scout the location and save it on the maps in my phone.
Cotton fields were gorgeous - fluffy snow white pieces the size of my fist were coming out of seed pods and the whole field like it was covered in giant snow flakes.
“I will wear a knit dress (great texture, I thought!), boots and a beret” Ellen told me about her outfit as we were figuring out what colors would work well together. This would be my first time photographing in cotton fields, I was ecstatic.
The day of the photoshoot she comes to pick me up and we drive off to the location that my husband (my technology guru) saves into Ellen’s phone. We start driving.
We drive and chat (her English is excellent, because my Turkish not so much), and we drive some more. And then we drive, and drive, and drive, and there are no cotton fields around.
At a certain point, when I see golden light flood the streets of the city through which we are driving, it dawns on me that it is not in the cards for us to find the cotton fields.
“Change of plans”, I say. “Let’s go to Central Park and photograph there”.
We make it there and jog to take photos while there is still light - the sun is already behind a tall Hilton building. I am just using available light, a 35 mm lens for wider shots and 85 mm for tighter portraits.
As it gets darker and darker, I get really inspired by the view of the mosque against the dark blue sky. I use the street light to light my gorgeous model. As she turn her face up and to the right, she is lit perfectly, and I am very happy with the final shots.
I wanted to create some photos of Ellen looking back at the mosque. I had Ellen turned toward me, but whenever I gave her a signal, she would turn back to look at the mosque behind her. It created beautiful movement in some of the shots and made her hair fly.
Some of my most favorite photos are these:
The moral of the story is this: flexibility is key. If you can’t find what you are looking for, “settling” for another option might be the very option that was meant to be for you at that moment ;)
other stories from Turkey:
While on vacation in Adana, Turkey, I offered free photoshoot to local beauties in an attempt to grow my portfolio and create portraits in breathtaking Turkish lands. Here is how the process unfolded and what came out of it.