A couple weeks ago I drove down to Nashville to photograph @marissa_nadler. I’d been a fan of her music for almost 15 years so I was super excited to work with her. I didn’t have any visual plans for the shoot— no mood board or pre-conceived ideas. In recent years I’ve really embraced improvisation when it comes to shoots. I bring a few key pieces of equipment with me— enough to cover a broad range of techniques— and then I allow the space, the subject, and the moment to dictate what happens within the session. Sometimes it backfires and I come away with nothing. Other times magic happens. Either way, it’s my favorite element of a shoot.

When I arrived at her house I borrowed some plastic wrap and coconut oil from her, applying it to my lens. Then I had her stand in front of her sheer curtain, which backlit her. The oil feathered the edge of her and mixed with the backlight to create an ethereal atmosphere.

For the next setup I opted to use a patch of sunlight coming through a window in her studio as my light source. Since the window wasn’t positioned in an optimal spot I grabbed a couple of her mirrors and positioned them to bounce the light where I wanted it (thanks for teaching me about mirrors, @paoloverzone). I added grabbed some bubble wrap from her to put on the mirror, which diffused the light by 2-3 stops, making the sunlight and room exposure more even, which I then covered with red and orange gels. By setting my cameras white balance to “tungsten” the room light shifted blue.

What’s especially cool is that both of these setups can be done with any level of camera and most phones, since it’s all about shaping existing light.

For the final scenarios I setup a projector and used a range of images of organic elements like fire and lightning to create dramatic images of Marissa.