Forest Valkyrie

Last weekend, I created some of my favorite images of 2020!   Since my Concrete Valkyrie session was successful, and a number of models wanted to be part of it, I decided to do another session.  I wanted it to be different from the concrete session, and knew that the session would be held in a park.  I scouted out Gilleland Creek Park, and it was perfect! There was a stream running through the park, and I’ve been drawn to water since moving to Austin. I knew that I would have the model standing in water some time during the session.

I put out a call in one of my Facebook groups, and several models responded. I chose Audra.  I liked her look. I also wanted professional make-up for the session so I hired a MUA to bring the look together, @farah_makeup_artistry.  

I was so nervous the week leading up to the session because it rained for most of the week.  If the rain stopped, we would still have to wade through mud, and I’m not fond of mud.  I had a Plan B in case it was raining the morning of the session.  We would shoot in a local parking garage.  I really didn’t want to do that, but there must always be a back-up plan.

The sky was overcast the morning of the shoot, but no rain was forecasted.  Yeah!  I met the model at the MUA’s studio.  I wanted to get some behind the scenes images and to show the MUA in action. It’s also content for me.

I reached out to my fellow photographers for a lighting assistant. I offered a small compensation for an hour.  Tika Cook of Tika Creations helped me out, and she was amazing!  Between Tika, Audra, and myself, we created some beautiful images!  Audra was a trooper.  She brought water shoes as I instructed.  We saved the water images until the end of the session.  I would definitely work with these two ladies again.