Last Saturday I did a shoot with the lovely Chinami. I had photographed Chinami casually before, but this was my first time to do a real fashion shoot. Often I take photos in parks or natural settings, but this time we decided to meet in Sakae, in downtown Nagoya. It was a warm, breezy evening, but not too hot. After scouting locations for an hour or so, I met Chinami around 17:00 and we went from there. First we walked over to the Aichi Arts Center (愛知芸実文化センター). The sun was still a bit harsh so we found some indirect light next to a wall for the first few shots. Afterwards, we walked to Central Park looking for open shade under the trees. As the sun continued to go down, and after some light cloudcover moved in, we were able to do photos in more direct light. We tried some shots on an overpass with a view of downtown, but the sun was still pretty strong, so I decided we should try again a bit later. After shooting in a couple other locations, we went back to the overpass at twilight. This time, using my 50mm lens opened up to 2.0 I was able to get a nice bokeh of the colorful city lights in the background behind Chinami. All in all, I was pleased with the locations and the lighting, but Chinami was the real star. She was so comfortable and relaxed in front of the camera, naturally assuming different poses, and trying whatever I asked her to try. I think it helped that we know each other and that she trusts me. I wonder if I could have gotten the same results with someone I'd met for the first time. As it was, we had a nice, relaxed evening, laughing and catching up, and getting some great shots in the process.