Trash the Dress with Adrian & Amy

Adrian and Amy, from Kansas, wanted to do a Trash the Dress style shoot while in The Bahamas on their honeymoon, after a Vegas wedding (these guys like to get around!). I, of course, was more than happy to help, always looking for opportunities to really get creative with my clients, and TTD shoots give me the a chance to really go to town with things.

I picked the guys up from their hotel, and after squeezing Adrian in my Jeep (this guy is intimidatingly huge) and we headed of to out first stop, the historic Fort Charlotte, where we were promptly told it was closed and we couldn’t shoot there. Not being one to take no for an answer, I made up a quick story about the guys just getting married, and we really needed to get some wedding photos… etc., etc.

Yeah, that didn’t work, but Plan B, ten bucks slipped to the gatekeeper got us in… with a free guided tour and permission to shoot wherever we liked. Gotta love the Bahamas!

I wasn’t expecting too much from this first stop, but it gave us some time to all get comfortable with the shoot, and let us find our groove. Whenever I’m not shooting a wedding, where it’s just impossible, I always try and work this way. It puts everyone at ease and I get that little bit of extra time to judge the personalities I’m working with, which in turn gives me a better idea of the direction to take the shoot.

Next stop was about the only big open patch of land in Nassau, the abandoned racetrack on Cable beach. the closest thing to a field you’ll find on this island. It had been in my head to shoot there for a while – I just needed the opportunity, and this was it. The only downside to big open expanses of ground in The Bahamas mid afternoon, is brutally harsh sunlight, so I’d brought along a couple of studio lights to help deal with the sun, and I’m thankful I did, as off in the distance were some pretty impressive thunder clouds, and the added power from the lights let me expose them and my couple just right for some pretty dramatic images.

After a few more shots with my Jeep making a guest appearance, we were hot, sweaty (yeah, OK, that was mainly me) and thirsty, so I suggested we make a little pitstop on the way to our final location. A and A were more than happy to find the pitstop involved one of the last remaining daiquiri stands on the island to make your drink with nothing but fresh fruit (and rum, but I skipped that part in mine – somehow rum tends to make my camera unable to focus – I must remember to write to Canon about that!)

Twenty minutes later, we head of to our final location for the day, the quiet and secluded Jaws beach on the far south western end of the island (large portions of the movie were filmed there, in case you’re wondering). We arrived to find a few early-evening beach goers hanging out, so we used the time to shoot a few ‘traditional’ style portraits of the two of them on a little wooden deck overlooking a pond.

With the sun dropping in the sky, it was time to get wet…

I don’t think I need say much more about that – the images tell it all!

In all, a fantastic day, and some images I’m real happy to have made. Thanks for reading!