Bruce Bowers - Sunday Afternoon at the Old Pumphouse

On Sunday afternoon, October 2, 2022, I met with models Dakota Lee and Katriella. Dakota has a long international publishing history and she and Katriella are among the top art and fashion models in Eastern U.S.A. Dakota has appeared in Vogue Italia, the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC, and a wide array of publications.

We met on a very rainy afternoon from 2:00-6:00 pm at an old, abandoned pumphouse filled with rusted and character laden equipment and machinery from a bygone era. The building made a beautiful counterpoint to the softness of the models' skin and clothing. Most light was provided by LED continuous lighting or existing light sources.

The images below begin with some portraits and some outdoor shots around an old school bus. They then moved inside the pumphouse for some candid and posed concepts. The final images are of Dakota posing under the clouds.

The two women were very much in control of the sequencing and the nature of the photos and they posed with barely any direction. I love this approach and feel that it really touches upon where the real power lies in most successful fine art figure shoots. Richard Avedon said that your model is 75% of your shot. I think this session proved his point.