Dawn has been exceedingly generous with her time in the past, working with me on test shoots to help hone my craft and improve my skills.
So when the time came for Dawn to need some new headshots as promotional materials as an author, I was glad to offer my assistance to repay her kindness.
Over conversations to discuss what she envisioned, we decided to use the Milwaukee Riverwalk area to do the shots. With Dawn having moved back to the Wisconsin area recently (and the suburbs of Milwaukee this time), we agreed that having one of the city’s more known locations would be a great tie-in to her life. It would also give us a chance to showcase more vibrant headshots, to help convey the strength and attitude of the characters Dawn writes about.
The Riverwalk did not fail to deliver. We met as the sun was starting to fade, with the late afternoon/early evening sun providing gorgeous natural lighting everywhere we turned. We started with some shots of Dawn on one of the bridges crossing over the Milwaukee River. Dawn dropped a fantastic nonchalant laid-back vibe and not even five minutes in, we are already nailing some killer shots!
To the left—and down a flight of stairs—we headed over to a gorgeous arbor adorned on flowers and foliage. The arbor accentuated Dawn’s near-perfect posing, culled together from her past experience from model shoots.
After that, it was a simple process of re-positioning ourselves at different points in the Riverwalk area, and allowing Dawn to broadcast her character’s emotions through her facial expressions. Whether Dawn was looking out over the river whimsically, doing some internal reflecting on some stairs, or simply exuding heaps of confidence amid the setting sun, each time I showed her some of the magic we were capturing, she gave emphatic “Awesomes”—with a beaming smile that continued to shine throughout the shoot.
As we started to wrap things up, Dawn gave one more memorable moment (in an evening full of them), with a great big, “Ah, the sweet feeling of success,” look, knowing we had captured not only images she could use, but images that she was looking for. Dawn now has a beautiful set of promotional images she can use, not only as headshots, but as accompanying pieces to the wonderful books, she is currently writing.
