Free Spirit and Animal Magnetism with Joey

 

At least once a year, I take a trip down to the Siuslaw River Valley near where the river flows into the Pacific to take advantage of the beautiful scenery and work with my friend, Joey, in the area where she lives. I always pick a theme for the shoot, and in the past, we've shot fantasy glamour, autumn glamour, 4th of July, and even a mermaid shoot. For this trip, it included animal print and hippy girl themes. 

Every year, Joey finds us lovely new spots in which to shoot, and this year she found us a steep, fern-covered hillside to start the animal print portion of the shoot. I had to shoot from the top of the hill with my longest lens to get the right perspective. At my age, I certainly wasn't climbing down that steep slope either. After shooting there and at a spot across the road, we continued the shoot in a few other locations.

A small beach along the river was our next stop. We had used it before for a previous shoot, so I felt it would work well for several of the outfits I had planned for the day. We spent a good hour there, moving from spot to spot to find the best light for each of the sets I had planned.

Afterwards, we broke for an early dinner and waited for the light to change for the better in the open fields we planned to use for the next portion of our shoot. Joey recommended a Japanese fusion restaurant, the Pono Hukilau, for our meal.

An excellent choice, the restaurant served a delightful mix of Japanese and Hawaiian cuisine and had interesting decor that included full-size surfboards suspended from the ceiling. 

After a delicious meal, we headed back to the river. On the way back, we stopped at a field of foxglove to shoot an outfit that Joey had picked for the shoot, along with some nudes. The road along the river is not well-traveled, so shooting nudes in a field adjacent to and in view of the road was no problem. 

For the final portion of our shoot, we used the field behind Joey's cabin. Full of wild daisies and surrounded by trees, the spot made the perfect location for the concepts I wanted to shoot. Joey had a blast with the outfits and really got into character; not hard for her since she has that hippy persona as a natural part of her personality. We continued shooting until the light faded away and twilight reigned.