Do you know what I love about the photographer community in Charleston? It’s full of amazing people who are looking to pull others up with them. Back story on this amazing gallery, Kayla of Kayla Lanning Photography was on the search for a location with intentions of putting together an intimate couple shootout. (A shootout is when host photographers style a typically more elaborate photo session and invite other photographers to shoot the set with them for a fee. It may or may not include formal education.) I happened to know the perfect spot, and when we started talking she let me know her vision also included a clawfoot tub for the models to interact with. What do you know? I had a clawfoot tub I was in the process of refinishing! Fate right? (Before and after below.) Kayla asked if I would like to cohost said shootout with her, and I excitedly said yes!

The location just outside of Charleston in St Stephen was a wooded part of a local farm property. As a group, we set up the tub, potted plants, candles, roses etc to set the scene in the perfect warm light. We had the sweetest couple answer the model call who had never done anything to this scale before (yay newbs), and the best group of girls who signed up to join us. These are some behind the scenes provided by Kayla Rochelle Photography. Some of my personal favorite things about shootouts, besides the more stylized photos, is getting to meet and work with likeminded folks. The camaraderie when you work for yourself is crucial. It can get lonely sometimes, and having other’s influence and perspective can help you grow and see things in a new way.

We wanted to create a fluid story verses a bunch of fully guided poses, so we as a group provided the couple with prompts to encourage movement, interaction, and emotion. Intimacy isn’t just “getting intimate”. It’s created by closeness and connection. We wanted to highlight that with both their interactions as well as our shooting styles. They danced, made out, felt each other’s skin, breathed the other in… it was a beautiful thing to witness.

Fair warning, things get fairly spicy at the end of the gallery.

#block-yui_3_17_2_1_1650820841143_19931 .sqs-gallery-block-grid .sqs-gallery-design-grid { margin-right: -4px; }
#block-yui_3_17_2_1_1650820841143_19931 .sqs-gallery-block-grid .sqs-gallery-design-grid-slide .margin-wrapper { margin-right: 4px; margin-bottom: 4px; }