There are several things about this shoot that I kinda wanna touch on. First, it took a couple months for it to even go down. When I initially had the idea to recreate Tomb Raider, I wanna say I was either finishing up "The Rise of the Tomb Raider" or I was just randomly thinking it'll be dope to recreate her look and be in an abandoned building since all I usually see are cosplayers doing it and they're in bland locations.

I began planning this shoot sometime in mid to late May. I jotted things down on my computer's sticky notes for things I had to research, such as Lara's apparel, where can I find affordable clothing to mimic the look and also locations we can shoot. Since the Tomb Raider series has recently gone through a rebirth and now the rave is about the survival saga, I wanted to go back to the triangle boobied polygonal body figure Lara lol. Clothing and accessories were primarily all found on Amazon. When I decided on Ashton to help recreate this, I asked her for her sizes and she was ecstatic to do it and sent them right away lol. No hesitation lol.

Remember when I mentioned earlier about it not happening for a couple months? One of the BIGGEST hold ups was not our scheduling, though we did have a few blurps there; it was ONE item of clothing - the shorts. I ordered a particular pair of shorts and it was the only thing out of everything that wasn't "PRIME" so it was gonna take what should have been a week longer. Turns out, UPS screwed up, my package never came though it said it was delivered and I did some digging to find out it was delivered to a super small town in Georgia. Now HOW they got this small Georgian town from a DETROIT addy is beyond me. I think someone in a UPS SWAK'd (Scan, Weigh and Key) it wrong but that's my thought. So it was some back and forth with the supplier and Amazon to get it resolved and finally they said they'd ship a new pair. Still took several days instead of them making it priority due to the mess up.

Weeks go by and now scheduling between myself, and Ashton are conflicting. On top of that, it had the nerve to rain or be so hot and humid on the days we tried to plan that I saw water benders performing...they said it was yoga but I don't believe them.

When we finally selected a date, it was still hot but I planned for us to shoot during golden hour. Let's just say this day did not go as planned for 4 reasons lol.

I forgot to order a pair of sunglasses for the look and also find a backpack and gloves so I was scrambling to find them on my lunch break and after work when I shoulda been preparing for the shoot.
Originally I had two locations in mind for the shoot. Both locations were open from when I began planning, to days before the shoot. I learned that not one but BOTH were boarded and closed up. So this location was just because I know its always open.
Crea was about 15 min late lol.
Because we were so off on time, makeup ran longer than expected, we had to travel and basically the sun was like 5 min from setting by the time we got to the location.

So when we began shooting, just know it was about this dark. I didn't bring my flash, I used my phone for maybe 5 pics but didn't like it that much so you won't see those photos. Overall, I believe we made it work with the LITTLE time we had. Also before I forget, you can check out Crea's makeup page on IG and also one or both of Ashton's IG pages.

Crea: @crea.tive.co
Ashton: @mermaidash_ | @ashtontaylorfit

Here's another before and after.

The reason there are two edits to this picture is because I was sitting down editing as I was supposed to be getting ready for another shoot elsewhere, and I exported the photo on the left and was happy with the outcome. THEN, I walked to get in the shower and looked at the screen and thought hmm maybe I can make it a tadddddd more cinematic lol. So I sat back down, did some more quick editing and then exported, hopped up and ran to the shower lol. The photo on the right, is prob my favorite from the shoot.

Anyone who shoots with me knows that I put their safety over my own. I wanted us to start going outside since it was getting darker by the second. We would have walked around, but she climbed a debris pile so quickly and it looked dope so I told her to stay there lol.

Then we used that same pile to get outside to the yard where we popped off a few more shots before calling it quits. I wish I had a flashlight or at least a torch that I mentioned to her earlier. I mentioned making one but didnt get the materials to craft it. Maybe next time.

Last two images are the last of what we shot. Trust me, there was a heck of a lot more I had planned for this shoot, but location and timing played a huge factor in what we could accomplish. Soooo because she's awesome and had fun, she'll be reprising her role as Lady Croft in another shoot soon! I dunno if I'll make another blog about it though lol. But hope you guys enjoyed these! If you would like to see something recreated or you have a favorite from this set, comment below!

Sidebar: I wanted to add video clips of Ashton dancing while Crea was applying her makeup, but Squarespace won't let me be great by uploading a sole video without a URL.

Fin.

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Tomb Raider - Ashton