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Model Shoot: Kimberly
For a while I have had this idea that I thought would work great for a photo shoot. The premise is to have the model wear a pretty dress, and the location of the shoot be an urban decayed building, thus creating a contrast between the nicely dressed model and the destroyed environment. A month or so ago, I had Kimberly contact me after finding me on ModelLocate.com, one of the Photographer/Model networking sites I am registered on. It turned out that she liked the idea of the shoot, so we both began searching for good destroyed places that could serve as a location. Someone recommended I check out the old Pepper Distillery, which is an abandoned bourbon distillery near downtown Lexington. I thought it was worth a shot so I emailed the owner to get his thoughts/permission, and he gave us the go-ahead to take the photos there.
The shoot was this last Friday and I have to say it went perfect. I met with Kimberly (who is extremely nice and easy going) and we drove over to the distillery. Neither of us really had any idea of what to expect, other than the fact that it was an old building. Soon after arriving we realized that there couldn’t have been a better place to do it. The building had old and rusty catwalks that connected tons of rooms and looped around into a labyrinth of urban decay. Most of the windows and mechanics were shattered and broken, and plants had started to grow through cracks, taking sprout in the empty hallways. It trully was one of the coolest buildings I have ever been in.
Below are seven of the photos I took at the shoot. You can click them to go to Flickr page for that photo. Look below the photos for a link to the full set.
To view the rest of the photos from the shoot, check out the collection on my Flickr called Model Shoot: Kimberly. I have 72 model shots on there in a set, and then 8 random photos that I snapped of the building we were shooting in.
Special thanks goes out to Barry McNees for allowing us to use the amazing Pepper Distillery as the location for the shoot. Also, a BIG thanks goes to Kimberly for contacting me in the first place, being an excellent model, and for being easy going making the shoot a lot of fun.
Paul M. Hooper is an internationally published photographer living in Lexington, Kentucky. He shoots shows at various venues in Kentucky and neighboring states, as well as traveling around the country shooting models portraits. Mostly though, he's just an average dude with a passion for music, art and clicking the shutter of his camera.
May 7th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
Great shoot Dweeze - what an awesome location! I really like the B7Ws the best.
May 7th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
Thanks man. The location could not have been more perfect really. I want to go back and take some more photos there soon. It is such an awesome place.
I also like the black and white ones. With some, it allowed for me to increase the contrast quite a bit, and then after adding some vignetting, it gives the photo a lot of personality.