LocationsSpain like jobs in the desert, people shoot in a desert so as they can get a clear blue sky and a hot arid looking landscape. Which is easy, you go to the desert and that’s what you get…. Wrong. That is what you want, and what you want is not always what you get. We arrived in howling wind, after it had been pouring with rain for a week. It looked as if the desert had had rivers running through it just the day before. It was certainly a most uninspiring place for the type of shot that Morgan was after. After the reccie and watching them film the tv ad for the same commercial we headed off to the hotel very somberly. The only thing that we had to cling onto was the fact that the wind was blowing a gale and that that may help dry the place out a little. When we woke up the next day sure enough the sun was out (albeit there were one or two clouds too), and the wind had pretty much done it’s job. It was a long way from perfect, but it was still a far cry from what it had been. So with spirits raised we left the hotel and headed back out toward the rocky desert. 

When we arrived, there was a little bit of hanging around for costumes and extras, as the bad weather had delayed the commercial they were filming at the same location, so they were all still being used. This however gave Morgan a little extra time to go over the landscape and find a spot that he felt comfortable with. Then all of sudden we had the props and the extras and it was action. Morgan had a very clear idea of how he wanted the finished image to look, and was very comfortable and confident shooting to achieve that, this is in part because he has excellent knowledge of retouching so was aware of exactly how he needed to shoot the scene. A few hours later he was confident that the background image had been captured, and with the weather looking as though it may change we decided to do the hero shot back at the hotel ideally outside, but we had arranged a large room to convert into a studio if the weather made that impossible. As it turns out this precaution was unnecessary as the weather looked good when we arrived back. Colourama was set up on the lawn at the hotel, and the hand-model was in for a good few hours lying on his back pretending to hold the can which although was supported is a pretty tiring job, but fortunately we had a good model who didn’t mind. Morgan lit it up to match the background that he had just taken, and did a few variations, then felt again like he had enough to complete the shot. Although, we did go out and shoot more general landscapes with him so he could have more options and depth to the shot if needed.

It was great fun and a learning experience working with Morgan, more of the excellent work that Morgan creates can be found at www.morgansilk.com

Behind the Scenes Pics -