This was my first time doing a shoot with a plan. I still don’t often actually plan anything, but it was fun to do. I can’t claim much credit for the idea – Samantha had the idea for a ‘Twisted Boudoir’ shoot, wearing a bodysuit somewhere inappropriate. The idea was to find an industrial area where we could shoot, and then use a lane for some hitch-hiking shots.

I added the idea of the hitch-hiking shots showing her from behind, holding a knife, so we took a kitchen knife along. I’d also managed to pick up an old rusty sickle at a car bot sale, which looked pretty nasty.

Sam (my wife) and I did a bit of scouting before the shoot, and found some industrial units we could drive behind, which left us out of sight, and it was nicely clear on a Sunday. I’d found what looked like a good quiet lane on Apple Maps beforehand, too, which I hoped would work for the hitch-hiking shots.

But I’m skipping a bit here. The weather forecast. It was Not Good. By the night before, it was looking really Quite Bad. By the morning of the shoot, it was looking Really Bad. There was a storm with a name passing through Exeter just as we were doing the shoot, so I asked Samantha if she wanted to cancel. She’s made of sturdy stuff, though, and wanted to do the shoot anyway. Wearing just a bodysuit. In a storm. Seriously, I was cold, and I was wearing a t-shirt, a warm fleece and long coat.

So we picked Samantha up, and drove to the first location, hidden at the back of some industrial units in Marsh Barton. She had to change, so I left her in the back of the car to do that while I wandered away and applied lots of will power not to look back at the car.

(No, not that much, really, I’m not actually that tempted to peep on a woman getting changed. That would be seriously creepy.)

Then we got started.

There were shipping containers. I like shipping containers.

• 

• 

There were stacks of tyres, with a pallet that worked like a little stage. A good place to shoot. Only made a bit more unpleasant because it was now in the middle of a huge deep puddle. But we did it anyway.

A handy stack of pallets worked well too.

An old abandoned Coke fridge looked pretty good.

Photos

At that point, we were done with this location, but another problem appeared. Sammie’s shoes had broken. A jammed zip meant she could get them off, but couldn’t get them on again. We tried a shoe repair place, but they couldn’t do anything for them. So the hitch-hiking shots were all done barefoot. In the cold. In the rain. On a muddy lane.

But we got some good photos, so it was all worth it!

Yeah, easy for me to say, with my boots and my fleece and my coat.

It was a really fun experience. My first shoot with a plan. My first lingerie shoot. And my first shoot in a storm. But nothing stops Samantha.