I met with Lisette for my second NY street portrait session, which went on for a little more than an hour on a pleasant, breezy Sunday afternoon. For this shoot with Lisette, I initially planned to make use of the architectural features in the New York Public Library, but photographing in there proved to be more challenging than I expected. Its lighting conditions combined with restricted policies toward photography narrowed my chances for getting consistent exposures.
As is usually the case, I gave myself some extra time to scout the area before meeting with the model , and in that process, I was attracted to a group of colorful chairs in Bryant Park and the view from a public courtyard not far from there, which is where we completed this session shortly after leaving NYPL.
Similarly to my previous portrait walk in NY a week earlier (see post here) I only used ambient light and my 50mm F1.4 lens on both my DSLR and film camera. The 50mm lens is proving to be the lens I need to work quickly, and it also makes it easier for me to be mindful of my surroundings. For my film shots, I used Kodak Portra 800 film, (not yet developed) and Fujifilm Neopan Acros 100 which I developed at home with Kodak D76 full stock solution.
Next chance I get to do a life-style photo shoot like this, I plan to make use of a speed light so I can add more detail to the shadows and get better separation between the foreground and background as I recently learned from street photographer Bruce Gilden as I watched on Magnum’s online course
Lisette is a model with professional experience and a solid sense of style; you can view more of her work at https://lisettemelendez.foliohd.com or http://www.street-stride.com
