It's funny how with the darkness coming on earlier in the evening, the temperatures now almost nightly dipping below the freezing mark, I seem to be searching (intentionally our subconsciously), shoots and images set outside with the sun, the trees, the green. It began earlier in the week with MvR Photo's Autumn and I go back into the woods today with Jay Rickard's work with John.
LightWeaver's Jay Rickard is someone whose work I love to feature as often as I can. His images speak to the caring touch he puts into his work and always provides me small details about his work, the shoot I am featuring which help make the images that more special.
John and I had been talking about getting together to shoot for awhile. He lived in Columbus, OH. and I was here in Indy so we were just having some trouble getting it together. Then in the spring of 2008 I had an opportunity to be in Columbus for a few weeks so we met for coffee one evening to discuss shooting. Of course I had no studio availability and shooting outdoors would be the easier option.
Fortunately I had lived in Columbus for a couple years prior to this and knew of some beautiful locations. My favorite was the Old Man's Cavern area about an hour and a half south of the city. Waterfalls, beautiful trails and a plethora of little nooks and crannies were going to make for a great shoot so we decided on a day and agreed that we'd start really early to get the best light.
When the day came I blew off my obligations for the day that brought me to Columbus, went and picked John up at his apartment and we were off, but not before snagging a boatload of coffee.
Arriving at the park that early it was impossible to ignore what a gorgeous day we'd been blessed with. The light was low and perfect. We just started hiking and stopped to shoot whenever a prime location presented itself.
Working with John that day was a photographers dream. He was up for anything, no demands on what to shoot and not to shoot. He's a very down to earth guy with an artistic background provided by his father who was and is an artist in his own right. So he took every pose I threw at him and made it perfection. I could have kept shooting for days but there was life to get back to so we eventually had to pack up and get back to the city.
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The result of the day of hiking in Hocking Hills was so many incredible shots that Jay turned into a book. You can preview/purchse 'John' at blurb HERE:
