30mph winds and a dry lakebed...
In a dry lake bed in a Nevada desert, right outside of Las Vegas, 30mph winds slapped us in the face as we stepped out of the car. If you're not sure exactly what 30mph winds feel like (drive 30 miles an hour and stick your head out of the window.... just kidding!), it's strong enough to hold up 15 yards of fabric and the wind keeps it from touching the ground. It was exactly what we had hoped for! The ground was as flat as it could possibly be with giant cracks painted like puzzle pieces across the lake bed. Mountains were in the distance on all sides of us and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Perfect day for a desert shoot! When we first met up with Arden Leigh we were blown away by how personable she is. She is what you would call a mover and a shaker. Arden is the author of the book The New Rules of Attraction: How To Get Him, Keep Him, and Make Him Beg For More, and founder of the Sirens Seduction Forum for Women. She writes a monthly advice column for Auxiliary Magazine and blogs regularly at www.ardenleigh.typepad.com.
While Arden was amazing to work with, and the weather was.... what we thought was perfect... there were definitely some challenges that we hadn't expected. This was our first desert shoot, and first of many more to come travel destination boudoir shoots. The wind... which was what we wanted, right? Was a bit too much for our 4x6 reflector we ordered JUST FOR THIS SHOOT. It transformed it into a rectangular kite. Yeah, that's right. We ordered a HUGE reflector and flew to Vegas with it. Had to check it on the flight and carry it back home, didn't even use it. Ha! It was also quite a bit colder than we expected but Arden was quite a trooper! She pushed through the cold (shaking, poor thing) until I finally called the shoot.
**Some of the lingerie was supplied by our great friends at Bonjour Lingerie in New Orleans.