Treasure the (Prom) Dress Shoot - with Emily

Emily very kindly acted as my model for one of my pieces of work for Uni, earlier on this year.  I wanted to say 'Thank You', so when Emily mentioned her prom was coming up, I had an idea for a gift that I hoped she would like. I guess the idea came from the 'Treasure/Trash the Dress' type shoots that are popular with some brides at the moment - I suggested that at some date after her prom, I could perhaps do a photo shoot with her wearing her prom outfit - a formal gown isn't something that you usually get the opportunity to wear that often and I thought it might make a nice souvenir for her, of a special event in her life.  Emily was very keen on the idea, and initially we discussed a studio shoot - however, with me having trouble getting the studio booked, and with the forecast suggesting that we were finally going to get some decent weather, I contacted her with the idea of us doing a session in various outdoor locations, that I felt would make a really nice setting for her - and her dress. 

So, with a selection of locations in mind, I picked Emily up, and we headed out .

First stop was Moss Valley - here we had the tree's, area's that had previously been part of a sandstone quarry, and the lake, to use as a back drop .

I really liked the effect of the lush green background, with the beautiful rich colour of Emily's dress, for the shots we did amongst the tree's.

We then moved on to one of the quarried area's - the contrast between the graffitied  rocks and the elegance of Emily and her dress worked well.

I added glow to a couple of the photographs taken at the lakeside - I felt it enhanced the reflective qualities of the water -

 I decided to then move on and see if the near by field, that I'd used already in a couple of previous shoots, was still ablaze with poppies . . . there were still flowers there,  but they were starting to fade - however, there was enough colour left to make for a really nice 'backdrop' to the pictures.

Last stop was at the Ffrwd - this has another small lake area - but, unlike the water at the Moss, which is pretty well covered with plants, here I knew that I could get some nice reflections . .  .

In total, we spent about 3 hours out on this shoot, and though I'd told Emily initially to expect around 50 images, she actually got well over 250 . She said she really loved the photographs, and talking with her, she actually said that given the choice between a shoot like this, or say having a limo or similar to take her to the prom, she would opt for the shoot .

I think this type of 'souvenir' of a special, personal occasion is one that would appeal to a lot of people - not just for proms, this could also make a great 'Sweet 16' gift, for example - or a 'well done in your exams' treat, an 18th birthday gift, or even as a 'thank you gift' for bridesmaids .  A 2 hour shoot would give a minimum of around 30 digital images, probably more, and the location(s) could be selected to suit the subject - urban rather than rural, for example, or maybe a location that has special meaning to the subject.  The cost would be a great deal less than what is spent on for example, a limo, or even the bridesmaids traditional gift .

Big Thanks to Emily - I really enjoyed this shoot, and she was an absolute pleasure to work with .