Let me tell you about that one time, I shot Natasha

I have very many tales about models disappearing too soon from the scene. Natasha is another one; we met during the height of COVID-19. When we thought we were cooler than everyone else and couldn't possibly get sick, we were masked and gloved up as well.

We met in late fall. The world had been shut down for almost seven months, and we were getting cabin fever. We took a chance and set out one of the times the island relaxed its COVID mandates for a bit. We were allowed outside to 'work out' and be in nature if we congregated with only 6 people, or was it 10?

So we set out to do a bikini shoot because why not? She loved the water, and I hadn't shot anything in several months and wanted to create whatever!

Luckily, my mua, my good friend Michelle, was also 'jonesing,' if you will, to do something other than sit around all day; the history books will say no one wanted to sit at home all day and do nothing in those early days of the pandemic.

So we traipsed out cautiously. Of course, we were brave but not stupid. We still took care that we would somehow not catch the virus, not wanting us to be a statistic of the pandemic.

So, I headed out with my, brand new at the time, Nikon Z6, which I had impulsed bought, and my Godox AD400 flash. I was ready to create despite everything happening around the world because nothing would stop me from creating!

When we finally arrived at the beach, the skies opened, and it started to rain. We found some shelter at an eerily vacant beach bar; thankfully, the lone security guard allowed us to do what we wanted; he welcomed the company during his otherwise slow work shift.

At the end of it all, despite the continual challenges just trying to get this shoot to move forward, we were able to create and continue on even tho we lost light; I used my flash to light her. They weren't outstanding photos by any stretch of the imagination, but by then, I just wanted to take pictures and didn't care what hurdles we encountered.