Blizzard @ the Zoo

This photo shoot is more of a throw back to last Winter. But I was going through all of my old photos for a photo book project I’m working on, came across these, and wanted to share. I’m kind of tickled by the fact that this was this time last year when I lived in St. Louis. I now live in Miami so any form of frozen precipitation is pretty much impossible (thank gawd!). Plus, it's also nice to look back on old photos and see how much I've improved/grown/changed in the last year. 
So check it out!

Anyway, we shot these at the Zoo during the first major blizzard of the season. I know. I’m crazy, but the shots were worth it and I was really trying to find a tropical backdrop to shoot against. In the middle of winter. In St. Louis. This was pretty much impossible to find until I thought of the Zoo. So let me break down a few of the cray points of shooting in a blizzard at a zoo. 

First, Danielle (the model) and I were the only 2 people in the Zoo. When I say only, I mean we were all alone. In a zoo. Absolutely no one else was around. This was simultaneously one of the coolest and most surreal moments of my life. It was pretty dope getting to be up close and personal with all of the animals without having to fight hordes of school children to do so. But it was also a little bit creepy because it felt a wee bit post-apocalyptic.

Secondly, it’s amazing that neither of us got sick. We were going from the tropical conditions the Zoo maintains for the animals kept indoors to the sub-arctic conditions of the blizzard outside. Wow! Let’s just say that the contrast did not feel too good. 

Thirdly, I want to shout out the sole Zoo employee we saw during our entire 3 hour shoot. Since we were the only ones around he gave us a personalized tour and we got to watch him feed and have play time with all of the monkeys and birds of paradise. So it turned into a pretty sweet deal for us because we got to meet each of the animals individually. Learned their names and favourite treats. 

 Lastly, it was fun as hell. As frozen as we were at the end, this was one of my most memorable shoots to date.