06 June 2010

Larissa Reis – a fitness model in London



The last time I worked with IFBB Figure athlete Larissa Reis was a day after she stepped off stage at Olympia 2009.  Of course she was ripped.  We shot at the dry lake bed just outside of Las Vegas.

For those of you who may not know, strange as it might seem with me living in the UK and generally being a bit of a lardarse,  I'm actually quite an established name in the fitness photography business in Canada and the USA.

I caught up with her again on her recent visit to London.  She was off-season, but still looking fabulous.

The shoot started well, but it didn't quite go according to plan.   We started in one of the only quiet areas overlooking the Thames and the O2 Arena that I know.  Things were going well until some uptight guy threatened to call the police.  Not because I was shooting Larissa - she was hidden in the car at the time changing, but because my friend and helper for the afternoon Jorge was taking a few photos of his son.

I don't do stress these days, so we decided to move on and try and find somewhere with Tower Bridge in the background.  That's when it all started to go a bit "tits up".  With the southbound Blackwall Tunnel closed the traffic going towards Tower Bridge was horrendous.   It must have taken us about 90 minutes to go little more than 2 miles.  In the end we gave up and restored to plan b.

Plan B was actually always going to happen - going back to Larissa's posh London hotel and to shoot in her room.  First though steak , chips and beer were calling!

Although I had my lights with me, I wanted to do the hotel shoot using just available light, which as it was now dark meant just the lights already in the hotel room.

I'm pleased with the results.  Hopefully some photos from this shoot will be gracing the pages of a fitness magazine in the near future.

Thank you Larissa.  Always a pleasure to work with you!



 


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