All my life, I've been a night person. I stay up late enjoying all parts of life (including editing photos, haha), but in turn, I've never been a morning person. With our crazy schedules, Gina and I decided to meet at 7:30AM in San Francisco's Hayes Valley. The sun was low in the sky, no one was on the streets, and the businesses were closed... except Artís Coffee! We grabbed a couple of perfectly caffeinated lattes and let the fun began!

We visited our favorite spots in the area, including the Painted Ladies by Alamo Park, Golden Gate Park's Redwood Grove and Conservatory of Flowers, and of course the beautiful Golden Gate Bridge. Check out my favorite shots from our session below.

Gina, you're gonna make a morning person out of me. =)

For a few months, I'd been borrowing a buddy's speedlight flash(es) and diffuser. I remember the first time I borrowed it -- I had no idea what I was doing and everything came out over-exposed, and it was intimidating to learn when I was so used to shooting with only natural light (don't worry, I still live by my reflector!). With time, I learned how to add a little light for some extra pop while still keeping the photo looking natural. So eventually, I purchased my own set!

Here's a little example of the same positioning of the model and camera with and without flash. Both photos came out nicely -- Hafiza looks beautiful either way. But I think adding some light draws the eye more to the subject.

Left: Off-camera speedlight flash. Right: All natural light.

Each of these shots below used my new wireless HVL-F60M speedlight triggered by an on-camera HVL-F20M flash. My friend, Jason assisted in holding the speedlight to either camera left or right, except for the shot where the flash is behind Hafiza in a tree. I should note that I find the line-of-sight to differ between the two HVL-F60M speedlights I've used. I'm going to keep experimenting.

If you're interested in seeing more of Hafiza's work in front of the camera, follow her on Instagram here: @hjnoorie. I'll leave you with a (natural light, higher shutter speed) shot of this jumping beauty.