It is 7:00 AM. I am putting on a helmet and going for a bike ride. The air is cold and refreshing. Tires are lazily rolling on the tarmac while I am thinking about the evening. I don’t know Nika very well, she doesn’t have any modeling experiences. We talked about trying to make some golden hour portraits, so this morning I am looking for a suitable meadow. A poppy field would be lovely. However, I have checked all places that crossed my mind and didn’t like any single one of them so I was riding further and further. Have you ever heard of the term location scouting? It feels pretty much like being lost in the forest while pushing the bike up the hill… pity that I didn’t have breakfast before going out.
5:00 PM, closing the laptop after a pretty shitty and unsuccessful day. While getting the camera gear ready I am still not happy about the idea of driving around the countryside. Golden hour is such a short time window. Finally, I am grabbing the keys from the car and a half-hour later I am parked and waiting for Nika.
Here she is, wearing a red shirt and a matching vivid lipstick. She is introducing me to Lukáš, her boyfriend. They are both in a good mood and talkative so after a short, while I am feeling relaxed as well. The first location, that crossed Nika’s mind is the Topolčany castle. Funny that it is only a few kilometers far and I have barely even heard of it. I am starting the car and we are on our way.
Unfortunately, the castle is closed, but it seems to be an interesting place. On the way back we glanced a small barley field. The sun is shining through trees and lighting the barley. I am grabbing the camera with the brand new 50mm f1.8 Pergear lens. I have always enjoyed this focal length for portraiture, but this lens put me down immediately after aiming it in the direction of the sun. The sun flare is so strong it is unusable, most probably due to the absence of anti-reflex layers. I threw the lens back to back a switched to trusty 50-230mm. After a rusty start I got a few keepers and decided it will be best to not damage the barley anymore.
After changing location we were rewarded with the golden light, that we were waiting for. While fighting with posing and lens flares the temperature was rapidly decreasing as the sun was setting down. I admire Nika for maintaining the attractive sunny evening appearance without complaints while I was cold even wearing a hoodie. The sun hid behind the mountain and the cold dusk with a blue blouse made for more tender images.
