Being a student himself, allows Wyn Wiley of Wyn Wiley Photography to relate in a special way to the seniors he photographs!  It also allowed him complete access to a classroom in an abandoned physics building on campus and gave him the inspiration he needed for this photo shoot.  I love what he did using lighting from the overhead projector and I think this shoot showed off a vintage vibe.

Wyn says he fell in love with photography at age 15 after receiving a camera from his parents for Christmas.  He wanted to take photos of his family’s three precious cats.  Since then he has started capturing images of things without whiskers and I think he has a bright future ahead!

Be sure to check out what Wyn had to share about this photo shoot below and check out his work on his blog here.  By the way…he is 19!!  How awesome is that?  Thanks Wyn!!

What was your inspiration for this photo shoot?  As with all my senior kiddos, the inspiration of each shoot is to represent the senior’s style and personality in unique environments. For Harper’s shoot, however, I wanted to switch things up a bit and play with an indoor location. If I have time between classes, I often find myself creepin around all corners of the university and on one of these scouting expeditions I stumbled upon a classroom in an abandoned physics building on campus. When I first opened the door to this classroom I immediately knew this would work perfectly with Harper and her vintage and indie style.

Did you collaborate with the senior on the concept for this shoot and the wardrobe?  Because I’ve known Harper for so long I knew her unique, indie style and the vintage look we wanted to snap. So I had an easy out on this shoot 😉

Where did this photo shoot take place?  The shoot took place in an abandoned classroom in an old physics building on the University of Nebraska- Lincoln campus.

What time of day?  We shot from 6pm to sunset (around 7:30pm). The photography gods blessed us with the most amazing ethereal light the whole shoot.

What camera, equipment or lenses were used during this photo shoot?  I use a Canon 5D Mark II and shot with the Canon 45mm TS-E f/2.8 and the Canon 85mm f/1.8.

What post-processing techniques were used when editing this photo shoot?  I shoot in JPEG and start processing with Lightroom 3 and then finish in Photoshop CS5. In Photoshop I use  a custom set of actions for coloration along with the Totally Rad set of actions and their new Rad Lab product, which is freakin amazing.

It looks like you did some really cool things with lighting…can you share with us what you did and how it worked?  Harper and I loved playing with the natural window light. I used a super low aperture on all the shots to get the light from the windows to fill the whole room. Another technique I used was to free lens a lot of the shots. I am addicted to freelensing. Not only does it allow for more light to get in the frame but it creates an epic creamy blur like a tilt shift would. After a while in the classroom, we popped on the projector and did a series with the hard, warm light to contrast the soft, cool light of the window. We used pieces of paper to shape the light projected onto Harper’s face and I loved how the light made her blue eyes pop and how it created a super fast light fall off.

What is your favorite thing about these images?  That she’s a ginger like me, duh!!!

What feel were you trying to convey with these images about this senior and about your photography style?  I like unique. I like fun. I like simple beauty. I like funky. I mean, come on, having a senior stand on top of 25 tables in an abandoned classroom is kinda weird but somehow it just works. 🙂 I think that these photos convey all the aspects of my style and match up with Harper pretty darn well.