I recently posted this image on my Instagram, and it received more likes than any photo posted previously. So I felt compelled to provide a little context with a blog post about it.
My wife and I were in New York on business for 5 days. I was primarily there to photograph for her blog, but I had one photo concept that I wanted to recreate while we were there. It was a photo taken by a fantastic fashion photographer I follow named Laura Jade. The inspiration photo can be found here.
In the photo, the model is positioned with one hand on the bridge railing, cut off at the thigh, looking at the camera, dressed in winter clothing, with a great blurred view of the Brooklyn skyline in the background.
I love to shoot in the morning. I believe you can catch great outdoor lighting around that time. We got to the location at roughly 7:30 am on a Tuesday morning. This was our first time visiting the bridge, so we were not sure what to expect. Additionally, I was fighting sickness, so physically I was not 100%.
The bridge is very high, and the wood planks in the floor shake violently every time a car passes under. The planks also make it impossible for heels to be worn while walking on the bridge (good thing we took an extra pair of flat shoes for her). The sky was foggy, limiting my view of the Brooklyn skyline. We also didn't realize how much foot traffic this bridge would have. Needless to say, nothing was going accordingly to plan.
We walked about 100 feet onto the bridge and stopped for the shot. After a few shots, Chelsea felt comfortable enough to put her heels on and keep her feet still. This prompted me to take some full body shots but still incorporate the bridge as much as possible.
We left after 15 minutes of shots. I wasn't sure if I had captured a great shot or not. When I uploaded the photos, I realized everything came together quite nicely. I actually love the fog in this photo, you can still see the skyline, Chelsea looks FEARLESS, for a split second that bridge becomes empty and the colors blend very well.
Here is the second option:
