Oleksii along the pond behind the Palace of Versailles.
This week has been quite an adventure, especially today. The reason this post is coming out later than normal is because I had spent all day with my good friends, Will and Rohan, in Versailles. Will is a fantastic editorial photographer with a unique classic style. He had a shoot today with two great models, Virgil and Oleksii, and invited me along. The trip itself is extremely affordable, only €7.
I woke up early this morning and we all met at Will's place, then headed off to Notre Dame to catch the train to Versailles. We chatted during the hour or so the train took and the models were really amazing guys. Virgil is studying geology at university to one day study a form of astro science and Oleksii is a communication designer and hobbyist photographer. We finally arrive at our destination and begin to soon-to-be trek around the Palace of Versailles and Gardens of Versailles. We reach the first location after walking a few miles to behind the palace to this open field with a giant pond and swans swimming about.
Will photographing Virgil and Oleksii.
Will assigned the garments to the models and they got changed while we looked for shots in the area. Will's style of clothing is literally of a different century and it's fantastic to see and shoot such a unique style. We start shooting, while getting attacked by nettles, and the sun is absolutely perfect. It's the first week in over a month the sun has been out and we were so lucky today it decided to come out for us. We keep a pretty fast pace as we shoot for several frames/poses in a location and then move about 100 feet along our route. As we head towards an archway Rohan spots a red armchair just in the middle of the woods to our left. Sometimes everything just works in your favor because it was an amazing scene with the most random chair. Honestly, I salute the person who lugged that chair out there because it weighed a good 100 lbs.
Virgil on the chair in the woods.
After that magnificent discover we shoot there for a bit then head over to the archway, then the long walk to the gardens. As we enter the gardens there's a endless path with trees as far as the eye can see in a perfect line down each side. It was an absolute perfect day for this walk as we tread down the path passing families with their children and tourists taking photos. We find a secluded location in the vast lawn of grass so we can photograph without having people in our shot. We take a few dozen shots and our friend, the sun, decides he's done for the day. All in all we got all the shots we needed behind the palace and the gardens were icing on the cake because we could only shoot in the estate. We all have a brief talk and decide that after 20,000 steps we're all happy with the shots and all of us are famished. We head back to the train station and stop by a pub on the way to grab a drink and some food. It was an incredible day and hope you all had a fantastic week! See you next time.
William Waterworth: @willwaterworth
Rohan Harnal: @roahaar
Oleksii Neliubov: @oleksiineliubov