Opportunity

When I was in high school we had to do a graduation project that began at the end of your junior year continued over the summer, and lead to a presentation in the beginning of your senior year. I had the amazing opportunity to shadow the photographer Mechelle Lavelle. My first experience working with her was a photo shoot she was doing with Nike. 

This was my first real photo shoot ever, and needless to say I was so nervous. All I knew was that we were going to be working with an under water camera in a pool in New Jersey, and that I was considered Mechelle's assistant. I arrived at this beautiful house and was greeted by Mechelle, who is one of the sweetest people I've ever gotten the chance to work with. We stared right into the shoot early on as soon as the models arrived, and in the meantime Mechelle worked to teach me all about lighting and explained what types of shots she wanted to capture.

As the day progressed, I became more and more comfortable in the environment, and even had the opportunity to use one of her camera's and take some behind the scenes photos. 

Anyways, so the story behind this photo is that the model in this photo had just done this expression on the step of the deep end of the pool, but wanted to try for a different take on it, so she went to the edge of the pool. Mechelle handed me her camera so she could appropriately adjust the lights while the model practiced the pose. We all stood around and admired the ability this woman (also named Michelle) had to bend herself in half... backwards. 

So she reached the full expression of this yoga position with her finger tips inches from the water even though she was on a ledge about the water, she said one word.

"picture"

now, mind you, I have Mechelle's camera. Mechelle, the professional, is on the other side of the pool. Everyone looks directly at me, and Mechelle just says 'Emily, take the picture!'

I don't know how I managed to move at all with all of this pressure, but I did. And I was able to capture this moment. When Mechelle sent me this photo with my name on the bottom, I cried. It is probably my favorite photo I've ever taken, simply because of the story behind it! I was lucky to be able to work with such an amazing lady and her entire crew, so if you ever happen to see this Mechelle, thank you!