During my summer holidays in Italy I realized that I didn’t have any bikini/beach shots in my portfolio. In lack of a model I was looking for someone on the camping ground to fit my needs. My girlfriend was already quite peeved at me for eyeing up Italian women passing by… I am sorry darling!!

Finally, a couple of days after the idea was born I saw Giulia. She was young, attractive and had a lovely smile. I walked over, showed her some of my pictures (moo business cards are just perfect for this) and she agreed in taking pictures together. It was a little hard to convince her to get up really early so we could start shooting at 6am but in the end it totally paid off. The beach was almost empty and the timing perfect.

My girlfriend assisted me with the Sunbouncer micro-mini traveller reflector to bounce light back on Giulia as I was shooting against the sun. My dear friend Greg Gorman managed to get me one of these a couple of years ago. It is just perfect for travelling. Btw: Check out Greg’s stunning portraits and nude shots!

I ended up lying on the ground and doing poses during the shoot to show what I wanted from Giulia. Remember: If there are problems due to language barriers just let the model mirror you and everything is fine! So… for Giulia never having modelled before I am really happy with the outcome of this (more or less) spontaneous shooting.

Question of the day: Have you ever asked a complete stranger to model for you? And if so, how did it work? Let me know in the comments!