Glen Bowden Shoots Amanda Klaassen For Veve Swimwear

Glen Writes:

This was a dream job! To shoot a bikini catalogue in an exotic country with a great team! We were flown over to Bali from Australia with myself (Glen Bowden – Photographer), Stylist – Michelle Bennett, Makeup and Hair – Mia Connor and Vanessa and her family from Veve Glamour Swimwear. The model was Amanda Klaassen.

We shot the catalogue over 4 days all over Bali and were lucky enough to visit some great places. The highlight I guess was too shoot Amanda on an elephant! Something I don’t get to do everyday! I would say 90% of the shots taken were with natural light. We aimed to be working with the best light in the early morning and late afternoons. This meant some very early morning calls! If the light ever got too strong I used a scrim to soften the light and a reflector to add a little bit more punch. It was a relatively easy set up and worked really well as it allowed us to keep shooting when the sun got too bright.

I also travelled with a strobe (with softbox) and battery pack but rarely used it. It came in handy for some beautiful sunset shots or in the rare case the sun and reflectors weren’t enough. The natural sunlight in Bali (at least when we were there) didn’t seem to be as powerful and harsh as it is here in Australia… which was great! There was often a haze to the sky throughout the day which acted like a giant diffuser and made my job easier in selecting the best way to shoot the model. We simply wanted to showcase the amazing bikinis with their intricate designs and colours in a complementary background.

Gear used (and yes there were excess baggage fees):
Canon 5DmkII
Canon Lenses 24-70 and 70-200
Scrim Jim and Reflector
Bowens Espirit 500w Strobe with battery pack
Macbook Pro with daily backups to multiple external drives stored in different locations.

View the finished shots at his website: www.glenbowden.com