Leslie, Part Deux

Last Saturday, Melissa and I got together with Leslie again to shoot her in the Oregon District of Dayton. First, let me say, although it's small, it's a very hip area with cool shops and restaurants. I'd been there before, but never to shoot, so I was happy to have the opportunity even though it was a tad on the chilly side.

Leslie, as always, is such a sweetheart and just a doll to shoot. She's a painter who teaches art to children with autism. She has a great eye for "the light" and is super in front of the camera. Melissa and I just adore her and really enjoyed our afternoon together.

Here are some of the images I got from the day:

We started out on this great vine-covered wall:

Then on to this tiny space between some buildings:

I got some fun shots of Melissa shooting Leslie:

Love these boots!

To warm up, we stopped in Jimmy Modern furniture store on Fifth St. What an awesome store! We could've shopped there all day - the furnishings are 20th century modern and ultra hip. The owner was super nice and gave us the run of the place, allowing us to shoot whatever we wanted and even invited us back for other shoots. So, beware, Elaine and Mark (whose wedding is in Dayton) because we might just end up at Jimmy Modern's for some cool wedding shots in November!!

This is Jimmy's dog, China. She was a sweetie, even though she's giving the wary eye here:

"Uh, Jimmy?"

Time for a scratch.

This shot is looking down the stairs into the basement which was filled with lots more goodies, including some really cool lamps. I love lamps.

China wasn't too wild about the camera getting too close, and when it did she let us know.

Back onto the street where we asked Leslie to act like someone had just dumped her there. Nice, eh? See what I mean about her being a good sport?!

Then we headed over to some old warehouses that had been converted to studio spaces. This shot was taken in the ladies room.

Near the freight elevator Melissa broke out one of her Christmas presents: a neoprene snoot for her flash. We played with that a good bit. Love how it intensely focuses the flash, but it definitely takes two people to use it since the flash is actually off-camera. I'm gonna have to get me one of those and an extra arm!

Back out into the cold for more fun. Isn't this cute?

And, now, this I LOVE. We drove to an abandoned factory - a very scary place to say the least - and on the outside of the building someone had spray painted these "clouds" or "wings". Leslie hopped up and balanced herself on the tiny ledge so we could shoot her wearing the wings. It looks like she just came in for a landing. I really love this.

Inside the building, Leslie found this gorgeous shaft of light. The light fell just perfectly, illuminating part of the graffittied (if there is such a word) wall.

This one has a really dark feel to it, but that's what I like about it.

Just another day at the office.

Again, we had such a fun and relaxing time wandering around Dayton, shooting in unexpected places with different set-ups, and I want to thank Leslie for spending the afternoon with us.