The Idea:

Another from my series of images inspired by the feature film look, Ready Wet Fire was the result of a challenge I gave myself to strip down the elements and still maintain an inference of a story. I wanted to have very little in the way of background to help me tell the story. The only tools I gave my self were light, an actress, and the gun props. Using the guns was a bit of a cheat for the challenge, so I tried to get an unexpected expression from the lovely actress Christina to make up for it. The direction I gave her was something like, “You are waiting for an ex to come home. He doesn’t know you’re waiting for him. He deserves whatever you’re going to give him. But you aren’t mad or happy.” I think she did a great job.

I used a snooted Canon 580ex II to create the hard rim on the side of her head in an effort to make her look hard emotionally, but a large soft box (also lit by the 580) lights her from the front so we can still see her beauty. There is an additional 580 pointed down at the pool bottom to simulate a pool light coming from under the water. I think it worked.

Hopefully the fact she is holding guns submerged in a pool combines with her almost deadpan look along with the lack of any other detail to create an image that forces the viewer to search for their own story, that is if I gave them enough to want to.

The Tech:

“Know Your Job” was taken with a Canon 5D and the 24-105 L at f4 1/200 sec. There is no ambient light as it is night time and light entirely by the 3 off camera flashes. I had an assistant point a bright flashlight at the subject in order to have enough light to use the auto focus. Here is the lighting setup:

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