Mike Maney

The last couple of weeks have teetered between the last gasps of autumn and the onset of winter. The mid-Atlantic leaves have dropped from their branches. Reds, yellows, and oranges have drained from the leaves. Blue skies have desaturated into grays. And the ongoing pandemic has crushed the studio shoot dreams for many photographers.

Bring it on, Mother Nature. Throw your muted tones and short days at me.

Such was the case when Taylor and I found an opening in our schedules to collaborate again. We quickly bounced ideas off each other, found a couple of concepts we wanted to try, and set to it. I hopped in the car to scout locations; she hunted down the outfits.

I knew I likely wouldn’t get the exact light and punch I saw in my head when we were planning the shoot. I also knew my meager post-processing skills could deliver what was in my mind if I got the image right in camera. I played around with a couple of different lens lengths, eventually ending up down low and wide with one of my faves: the Canon 16-35mm f/4L. I dropped the image into Lightroom for some basic edits, moved it over to Luminar to play around a bit with their new artificial intelligence tools, and then put the final touches on in Photoshop.

It’s a bit of a different style for me, but one I suspect I’ll likely use a bit more as I refine my portrait and fashion work. Below are a few other images from this collaboration.