behind the scenes at a photo shoot

Yesterday I found myself traipsing all over the University of Oregon campus, art directing a long-planned photo shoot with the ever-so-talented David Loveall. We do these shoots just about every year for the UO Annual Giving Program (you can see last year's projects for them here, here and here).

I thought it might be fun to give you a bit of a behind-the-scenes peek at our photo shoot so I snapped some quick shots throughout the day.

As far as photo shoots go, ours are actually quite casual. No hair & make-up artists, no wardrobe or prop department, no prior head shots and model screening. The kids are all 100% real UO students and we prefer them au naturel.

While we had no big movie trailer to retreat into, we did get lunch catered, right outside the EMU (student center).

After gobbling up a turkey sandwich, some chips and a cookie, it was on to the next location. By the end of the day, we had shot roughly 1,000 images in nearly 20 campus locations – in part thanks to advance location scouting and thorough shot list preparation.

My favorite location was shooting inside the Craft Center in the ceramics studio. The light was simply amazing thanks to a huge wall of windows and skylights. While none of our three models had ever thrown a pottery wheel, a very patient student (who was trying hard to get her own work done amidst our shooting) and a kind and knowledgeable studio manager (who was a natural instructor) were willing to step in, thus making sure we got some great shots.

And here's my favorite shot of David: flat on his stomach – in the wet grass! – to get just the right angle of the students gathered down the field in the sun. Thanks, David! Not only are you a super photographer, you're also quite the trooper :)