“Everyone knows it’s (really really REALLY) windy”. It has been said that love is like a force of nature and after working with Dwight & Melissa, I surely believe it. This wasn’t our first encounter with these two amazing people – late last year I had worked with them for their engagement shoot at the Neon Museum & Fremont Street and it was by far the coldest weather I had ever felt in Las Vegas. So cold in fact that by the end of the shoot, my fingers were numb and my old Nikon D3 was refusing to autofocus properly.
Photographers typically are unable to wear gloves, as the material over our fingers leaves us unable to manipulate the various tiny buttons and menus and presents an increased chance of dropping a lens or flash. Shortly before Christmas, Dwight & Melissa sent my partner Sarah and I the most touching Christmas gifts – two pairs of Freehands gloves with convertible fingertips! Even more amazing is that they got the sizes perfect (I have immensely large hands more akin to some ape-like creature than an actual human). I had never seen gloves like this and was so touched that they would think of us that I demanded that they contact us immediately following their wedding for a portrait session. Dwight & Melissa are far more than clients, in the intervening months leading up to their wedding, they became very dear friends to us.
We decided on the dry lakebed in Jean, NV for their portrait and trash the dress session. Las Vegas is a very busy and oft time congested town – there is nary a spot to shoot in the city without countless tourists and traffic, which is expected for such a popular town, but whenever we work with clients, we prefer to frequent the off beaten track. For those curious sorts that may want to check it out, the dry lake bed is technically on Las Vegas Boulevard….just 20 miles or so south of Las Vegas. Not too far to travel at all and better still, it’s usually completely empty on weekdays!
After working with them on one of Las Vegas coldest days, I kept wondering what mother nature was going to throw at us for their second shoot. Having watched movies such as Star Wars or Dune, you would expect that there would be wind storms in the middle of a large desert, but they’re actually extremely rare and I confess that this was the first time I had actually experienced a true windstorm!
As we worked, the winds gusted upwards of 55mph, but Melissa & Dwight handled it with laughter and smiles, which is what I love about these two. It actually reminded me of one of Aesop’s Fables, with the sun and the wind; like the protagonist of that fable, the wind did not get the best of us and we braved gusts so fierce that we literally nearly blew away while holding our prop umbrella. We brought along some nice heart shaped balloons and watched as, one by one, each ripped free of its retaining string and wafted into the distance as the lyrics from “99 red balloons” danced in my head.
Towards the end of the shoot, we were preparing to do a large five shot panorama image that I had intended to stitch together in Photoshop. Instead, we were pelleted by the biggest blast of sand and tiny rocks at 60ish mph and it really, really hurt (check the last shot).
All in all, we had an absolutely stunning time with Dwight & Melissa and I was extremely sad to see them go. But on the bright side, this is a couple with true staying power and I am 100% positive that our paths will cross once more!
