As with most things in life, the real “magic” of photography often happens outside of  the most well laid photographic plans,  or the expected outcomes of any shoot.   Such was the case with this image from a recent promotional shoot at the Zen Lounge in downtown Mountain View.  More on that shoot later – I was fortunate to have access to the time and talents of  fellow industry professionals such as Monina Wright and Christina Romero, and I want to share the results of all their hard work in a future blog post or two (or three!)

People who know me well say they always know when I’ve found something special because the click of my shutter is preceded by a sharp intake of breath,  which is then followed by a moment of complete silence during which my lungs graciously stop pestering me with their breathing efforts while I ponder the amazing visual opportunity that lies before me.   Fortunately,  my lungs always decide to start breathing again so I don’t pass out in the midst of my latest visual discovery…

The image above is the result of one of those moments where the sharp intake of my own breath (and subsequent complete lack of oxygen to the brain)  reminded me to take advantage of a serendipitous moment at hand, and not pass it by in order to methodically pursue The Plan I had initially developed for that day.

Oh, and another thing about my serendipitous moments – 9 times out of 10 they are the result of perceived failure.  In this case, it was a communication failure between my lights and my camera that prompted  me to rework my whole set-up and find these amazing ambient light patterns that looked like tiger stripes when they wrapped themselves around my wonderfully patient and accommodating model.  Voila! There was the moment, the intake of breath,  and the creation of some of my favorite images of the day.  Funny how life works, isn’t it?

AND, a HUGE shout–out to Erika Taylor Montgomery of  Three Girls Media and Marketing. She literally made me sit my avoidant self down and blog along with her over the phone this morning in order to get my lazy blogging butt in gear and actually post a blog entry.  LOL! Pathetic, I know…  Thanks, Erika!!!!!!!!!

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