By Shawn Petrovich of Totally Ripped of Los Angeles, which specializes in photography and video of fitness models.
Bad weather wrecked havoc on Campus Men's photo shoots throughout an entire summer.
Scheduling photo shoots became nearly impossible because of unpredictable weather and many shoots were cancelled because of rain. The sun would shine only on days when no photo shoots were scheduled. This was the final photo shoot needed for a calendar, which was behind in its production schedule.
Gus posed for what the photographer called a "miracle photograph" because it almost did not occur.
Being "On-Call" Because of Unpredictable Weather
Gus' shoot was scheduled a week in advance. However, a storm flooded streets and drenched High Street businesses prior to the photo session. The photographer telephoned Gus and told him they would only hold his shoot if some "miracle" stopped the rain.
Since the rain continued non-stop for hours, the photographer assumed he was off the clock and settled into watching TV. Then rain finally suddenly stopped 15 minutes prior to the scheduled time of the shoot. So, the photographer quickly phoned Gus to say the shoot was "on." Gus and a friend; along with the photographer grabbed equipment and sped off to the shooting location - a shower located beside a pool in a condo complex called Hidden Lakes.
Waiting For Sunlight
Rain was still dripping from gutters of the pool house when they arrived. However, once set up, no sunlight was shining.
The photo depicted Gus in a pair of wet white shorts under an outdoor shower. His shorts became see-thru when wet.
A girl stood on a stepladder outside of the camera's view to pull a spring-action chain to start the water.
Gus stood in exact position under the shower head while the photographer stood behind his camera, continuously measuring light, waiting for sunlight to shine. The three anxiously waited for several minutes for clouds to move and allow sunlight to shine.
When no sun appeared for a half hour, they decided to cancel without taking any photos. The the sun suddenly fell below the clouds, engulfing the pool area in a brilliant deep gold color. A color perfect for photos! A half roll of film was snapped off during the short time before the sun fell below the horizon.
Surprisingly, Gus' photograph, which was created in a total of about 150 seconds, became the most popular photo in the calendar. It was responsible for many sales because girls bought the calendar solely because of Gus' photo! Nobody knew the photo almost never was created because of rain.