BoHO at little stony point — Starky Photography

It was raining when I arrived at Beacon, and there were no signs of letting up. It was 12:30 and the weather report said the rain would stop at 1 and be replaced by thunderstorms. I didn’t know until then that I didn’t know if that meant rain and thunder or just thunder in the sky, or maybe I knew exactly what that meant and didn’t want to believe it because I had a photo shoot to get to. Emma, the model for our shoot, was home doing her makeup for the first look (she’s also a professional makeup artist!—Lumous Makeup), so I went to my favorite bagel shop in all of Beacon, Beacon Bagel, to pound a bagel for lunch and hope that it would stop raining by the time I did.

It hadn’t stopped, and so I went a few stores over to Raven Rose, the floral boutique that was providing floral arrangements for our shoot. I finally got to meet the owner, Courtney (we had only spoken over the phone before), and she walked me through the flowers she had picked out. When we talked, she had mentioned that she was concerned about what arrangements would suit the vision I had after seeing the mood board. The mood board was dreamy and simple, on the beach and grassy areas, so it didn’t readily lend itself to elaborate floral arrangements. She recommended a less-is-more approach, arrangements that would give off the impression that Emma had picked them while wandering through the fields more than something too premeditated (although all the premeditation that went into this shoot was, in the great words of Michael Scott, “incalculcable”).

When Leah, our stylist, arrived, the rain stopped. Leah helped select the final flowers, Courtney arranged them, Emma disappeared to get a protein bar, and then we headed for Little Stony Point. It was unbelievably humid and sunny, but the rain had stopped and the light was good.

We started in a nook off of the main trail, covered by low hanging tree branches and next to the water, and it wasn’t long before I slipped on a rock I was trying to balance on and my foot went ankle deep in the water. Shortly after that, while trying to regain my balance again over some rocks, I almost knocked Emma off of a log she was posing on.

Between the beach and inland photos, we got our share of nature on this shoot. Humidity, red ants biting our feet, heat, hunger (we had to make a quick stop at a gas station mid-shoot to pick up snacks: I got a snickers bar and Cool Ranch Doritos, Emma got a chocolate ice cream bar, and Leah only had water, which she regretted by the end of the shoot), I ended up shin-deep in water for a shoot, and when I crouched, got my butt wet, too, etc.

All in all, it was worth it for the amazing shots we captured, but next time I’m bringing an assistant. If you’re interested, please let me know “as asap as possible”—Michael Scott —Starky Morillo.

Enjoy a few teaser shots from this session. More to come soon!