Behind the Scenes on Shooting Exteriors

There is something about the early morning hours. Everything is still so quiet, so peaceful. It really feels like you have space to think, you can actually breathe deeply before the circus begins.

For this particular client, all of my shoots take place very early in the morning, even before sunrise. For the night owl in me, this can sometimes be a bit of a challenge, but I always enjoy getting to be in my zone at this time of day. It’s not necessarily a slow pace, but I feel like I can be very methodical and focused 100% on my craft, as the rest of the world isn’t even really moving yet to start providing distractions. 

What is probably most humorous about these shoots is that I’m typically wrapped on this Dallas commercial photography shoot as most people just start to trickle in for the day. Unless I’m headed out to another shoot, I’m typically headed back home as rush hour starts to accumulate in the other direction. 

So what the heck am I shooting at this time of the day? Buildings. Sometimes, really big ones. We recently shot a distribution center that had just been finished, and it was clocking in at 1 million square feet. Being inside of that space completely empty and observing the vastness of it was almost mind boggling. We did drone capture as well throughout the shoot, and actually recorded cloud banks inside of the building, with the light shining through. It was pretty amazing, and I never thought I would see a building that had could create it’s own weather. 

For these shoots, I like to arrive and scout out all of my angles, then get down to business. Everything is predicated on the weather, and making sure that the sky is just right. If you have ever heard of the golden hour, there are two times of day when you can take advantage. It’s typically sunset but you can also have similar incredible light in the morning.

What I think is funny is that the term is golden hour, but it is usually far shorter than that. Like closer to 15 minutes less. Which means that timing is incredibly important, along with being super organized. I am a pretty big guy, but still liken this kind of shooting to ballet, and I apologize in advance for the mental pictures you’re getting right now. I move swiftly, smoothly, and dare I say eloquently? I work fast but with a rhythm, check out below to see the results!