“Shooting in the Persian Gulf on a Yacht”

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When I wrote that on my Facebook on the morning of my shoot, a good friend of mine who’s also in the industry commented: “Wow, your life certainly doesn’t suck!” The thing is, these shoots are what we work so hard for so long to obtain! And what a perfect day it was for our Chanel shoot! Blue skies, crystal seas and a crew that was both talented and fun, this was one of my favorite shoots this past year! Oh and did I mention Chanel? If you know me at all, you know how much J’aime Chanel!

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Sally, the fashion editor for Harper’s Bazaar Arabia, was totally on point with the styling for this shoot! Must be that impeccable taste she has that makes me adore her so much!  She put together the pieces and accessorized  them in a pure and simple manner which just read EXQUISITE. And our gorgeous model, Iga, was the perfect muse for this editorial, possessing both beauty and intelligence. Well poised, charming and articulate, she was everything a “Chanel” girl represents!  We had 9 people on a fairly small yacht, so logistically we had to pick our angles and shots carefully. Clothing was kept in the master bedroom suite, equipment was stored in the dining/living area and I had to position myself securely while shooting some of the shots so I wouldn’t fall overboard! While I don’t care about taking a splash in the Persian Gulf, there is no way I’m going to take a camera overboard with me. So given the difficulties in shooting on a small yacht while racing across the Persian Gulf proved complicated, this is another lesson in how team effort is so important to pulling a shoot off successfully. The boat was rocking and sea sickness was seeming to become contagious. I got what felt like heat stroke at one point and had to sit down in between shots. But the team pulled through! Someone held me while I shot ( I can’t even remember who, now, but I remember someone holding my legs while I was shooting Iga on the bow of the yacht ). Tyler was racing back and forth between where I was shooting and the equipment to grab a filter or a different sized reflector so he grew some sea legs on this shoot! I don’t think he even fell! Kudo’s to Tyler!! Whoever was in sight and could manage to get to the model while the boat was racing, was helping out with the shoot. It was a perfect collaboration! Chanel had two girls from the Paris office who not only brought Parisian chocolate, they jumped in and helped with the shoot.

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Voilá……….the pictures tell the story of team effort, perfect collaboration and with a little bit of resourcefulness and a lot of pitching in with no ego and attitude, any shoot can be accomplished! Thanks to everybody who participated in this shoot. I shot the whole story on the Nikon D3 with the 85mm lens. tje 50mm and the 24mm. We used a ND filter and a polarizing filter to get rid of the flare from the bright reflections off the very white yacht and the sun lit sea. We used a lens hood as well to keep the flare off the lenses. We used reflectors on some shots and we mixed flash with natural light on other shots. Shutter speeds ranged between 200 sec to 640 sec keeping the F stop around F8.

All Images © Melissa Rodwell Photography | 2011

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