Photographer JD Barnes had worked with both of these models before coming together for this session, so when they gathered again, in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, Barnes knew how he would go about getting the desired mood and look. “In this case, I told them to imagine that we are living in a desolate land,” Barnes says. “How would you feel? How would life be? I think at this moment, they captured that feeling quite well.”

Barnes says he didn’t do too much planning for this session; the idea to photograph from a low angle came on the fly. “I wanted to allow my models’ natural actions and reactions to guide my eye and ultimately the frame,” he explains. To highlight their features and control the harsh natural light, Barnes used a large silver reflector to bounce light back onto their faces. “This really added to the mood,” Barnes says. “I like how all the elements—from the models to the clothing to the lighting and the angle—came together to produce something dynamic and quite striking.”

(Captured using a Nikon D7000 with an 18-105mm zoom lens.)

Photo © JD Barnes

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