Tara by Alley Light

One of my first shoots, this alleyway was lit with mercury vapor security light, giving things a sickly green coloring I really like, highlighted by a sodium light in a nearby parking lot.

This was an interesting shoot – I hadn’t moved into digital yet, and didn’t own a DSLR at the time, but thankfully my friend Mitchell was kind enough to lend me his camera. The fundamentals were the same, but the previews and the ability to process my images immediately was a game changer and I never looked back.

Side note, this wasn’t the original location intended for the shoot. We shot a good amount of frames at a local park, but I just wasn’t feeling things click visually and I was worried this shoot might be a bust. Luckily, on our way back, we passed by this area, what my friends used to call “Spawn Alley”, and decided to shoot a few more images. I’m glad we did.

The odd coloring of the light and the textures of brick and cement provided a much more interesting backdrop for me and complemented Tara’s styling. I think the coloring in these images is some of my favorite and influenced much of my subsequent work.