Visiting Rainmaker has been on our “to-visit” list for quite awhile now, and we couldn’t wait anymore. We’d seen pictures and there was something pretty intoxicating about the long rustic bridges surrounded by lush jungle. We were frothin to have it in our portfolio, and knew we needed to make it happen while everything was still looking lush.
We’d also been feeling pretty shameful that we’d lived in Costa Rica for over 3 years and never made the short 45 minute journey. You know how it is. We so often fail to explore what’s closest to home. So needless to say, it was long overdue.
We had travelled to Rainmaker once before, but just as we drove in, a storm cloud followed and we got rained out before we even left the car. So we were all eagerly hoping the weather and the light would hold, and we’d be in for some juicy visuals.
The plan was to shoot some yoga and lifestyle images for a brand very close to our hearts, Mika Yoga Wear. Mika captured our hearts years ago with their uber feminine and sexy activewear.
They are quickly growing a tribe of loyal followers with their high quality fabrics and cuts that make all the curves look good. Not to mention the owner Laura Costa is so amazing to work with. A beautiful person with a big heart and super passionate about what she does.
We have an ongoing relationship where we provide content to Mika. They have provided apparel for our models on many of our commercial shoots in the past, and anytime we have a passion project in mind, we often choose their clothing as well cause it’s just that stunning.
In this scenario, the plan was to capture a variety of images and provide Mika with a contact sheet to choose whichever images they felt best represented their brand and would like to purchase for future campaigns.
And the model… I bet you recognize her! For those of you who have been following our journey, you’ve probably seen images of Anabel. She’s one of my closest friends, a gorgeous goddess both in real life and in front of the camera. Not to mention an unbelievably talented and inspiring yogi.
For those of you who love yoga and want to deepen your practice I would highly recommend attending one of her classes, retreats or teacher trainings (Yoga Revolution Academy) which I myself attended over a year ago and can honestly say was nothing short of life changing.
Our friendship both professionally and personally has been a match made in heaven and we always have a blast creating together, whether it’s for a commercial client like Mika, or just for the pure love of the craft.
The day of the shoot, we left before the sun came up and arrived at rainmaker at first light. It’s about a 45 minutes hike in and we made some pit stops along the way to take a few snaps and some bts video as we traversed the smaller bridges.
When we got to the main bridge, I was kind of speechless. Which for those of you who know me is a very rare occurrence. The rustic look of the mesh nets were so organic and textured, and the backdrop was so lush and green it honestly looked like something out of jurassic park.
But sadly, the light was not working at all. And I mean, AT ALL. It was really really bad. We took some test shots, and they were looking pretty harsh and unforgiving, so we decided to wait it out and see if we could get a little cloud cover that would act as a natural soft box, giving us some more flattering light to work with.
We spent close to 3 hours at the bridge. We were all feeling pretty determined to get “the shot”. Every once and awhile we’d get a big cloud roll in and Anabel would scamper onto the bridge and quickly, yet mindfully, strike a pose. Then the sun would get aggressive again, and we’d go back to the waiting game.
As we waited, some really odd bugs, whose motive I still don’t quite understand would dive bomb into our eyes relentlessly. We each had the pleasure of picking upwards of 20 bugs out of our eyes, and they especially loved Anabel. Guess she’s a little sweeter than Miles Photography.
Tour groups also kept passing through, which increased the complexity of getting the perfect pose with the perfect light and no one in the background. We’d all patiently wait and watch families cross at a snails pace gripping onto the sides of the net like their life depended on it.
Luckily, over the course of 3 hours we ended up getting some really pretty windows of light, and as we looked in our viewfinder, we knew the waiting had paid off.
One classic mistake we did make was not bringing enough water or snacks. At one point we almost resorted to begging strangers for a handful of their trail mix, but we decided to maintain our dignity and push on.
In the end we were all blown away with the results we got. Most of the images were shot on our new 85 mm f1.4 prime. For those of you who don’t know, I’ve fallen pretty hard for this lens, and have to say it’s a total game changer for our portrait work. Super shallow depth of field and buttery bokeh. I’m not quite sure how we survived without her in the past, but really glad she’s in our life.
There ended up being so many gems from the day, but this one was a photographer favourite. JP has become obsessed with the Brenizer Method of taking multiple shots pano style and then stitching them together in post to create one really large, badass image. This image is composed of 3 images shot landscape and stacked on top of each other to create an original that is 5767 x 8558! Nike, if you’re keen, we are ready to sign with you and create some mega high res billboard ads!
As we finished the loop back to the entrance there was a cute little waterfall with a pool. So we took advantage of it and let Anabel cool off while shooting a few last images of the Miles Photography signature hair flip.
The light was gorgeous, and we were loosing out minds with how beautiful the white Mika swimsuit looked against the moody dark backdrop. When her lips turned blue, we knew it was time to wrap. Ok, we took a few more shots after that. Sorry Anabel! It was all just working. Hard to put down the camera.
All in all, a great first visit to Rainmaker, and Mika absolutely loved the images. They choose a selection of images that they will be featuring shortly on their instagram feed, so if you aren’t following them already, check them out and show them some love.
