it isn’t every march night in georgia you can look out your window and watch the snow drift down, cover the earth in a shimmering blanket of brilliant white, bring a sense of newness and wonder to everything it touches… and *mercilessly crush civilization beneath its cold deadly weight. (*read in voice of horror film narrator.)

after the first hour of snowfall sunday, the pure blinding thrill of its presence began to give way to the cold reality that it was coming down really hard — and showed no signs of slowing. soon, branches began snapping everywhere, echoing through the neighborhood like giant bubble wrap. when trees started falling on houses, power lines started exploding in showers of sparks, and a polar bear wandered to our doorstep seeking shelter, we thought it might be time to reschedule our friend’s headshot session that evening.

oh, we of little faith. driving from atlanta to athens, kylene wasn’t about to let this little act of God stop her. actually, an act of God is more likely what got her to our home studio in one piece. the hour-long drive to athens turned into three hours avoiding downed trees and helpless georgia drivers. after all that, a huge fallen oak blocking the entrance to our neighborhood wasn’t about to get in this colorado girl’s way! she parked at a nearby house, and — in the dark, with outfit changes and hair dryer in hand — she hiked her way the last half mile to our house. just imagine the harrowing scene as her shadowy figure appeared to us on the horizon, approaching like laura ingalls on the snowy prairie. (i did shed a tear.)

her hair was quite dampened by the still falling snow, but her spirits were high as always. she stepped into our cold, darkened house and asked where she could plug in her hair dryer. oh, kylene! what a dry sense of humor you have! you can’t plug in a hair dryer when there’s no power! ha! you almost got me with that joke. i don’t know how you kept from laughing. (come to think of it, you really looked close to tears…)

luckily, you don’t need electricity for studio photography. just some flashes and fresh batteries. so began our most interesting headshot session ever. in almost zero light, i used my petzl headlamp to focus my camera, then fired away. we would all wait a moment for our eyes to re-adjust after the blinding flashes, then repeat. at least half of the images came out with kylene’s head in frame. you can’t ask for more than that, eh!?

as an added bonus, quite a few of them turned out great! you really can’t over-estimate what the right equipment and a great subject (with super bright eyes and a huge personality!) can do for a headshot — in any conditions.

thanks for risking your neck for us, kylene. it was so worth it. (yeah, i know — easy for me to say.) break a leg on your next acting audition! now you should have even more ways to make a good first impression on any casting agent!