Catch the Moment

I often say that I like fashion editorial photography because it is a planned, deliberate exercise. This is true in general, but I am grateful my earlier passion of wildlife photography taught me to be ready to catch the moment.
Yes light can be controlled and models will (usually) be ok with repeating poses and expressions over and again till you get the frame you're after.

But. There is a but. Sometimes circumstance do not cooperate, the same as often a leopard will have a moment of interesting action between long bouts of lazy do nothing at all.
Case in point the 2 photos below.
Here I climbed on the roof to take a photo thru the dirty glass of Juste lying on the table. Natural light (the fogginess is due to the glass). We planned it, positioned the table. then I went up, positioned myself, took 2 images and presto! someone run up in a hurry to stop me telling me we weren't insured to be over the roof. Lucky me both shots came out right - actually I used both merging the legs from one with the upper body of the other :)

Case 2: we're on the balcony of a penthouse with great views of Canary Wharf (London). Rosa is hanging from the rail like her life depends on it :) It is raining. Our Bowens strobe is covered but that makes it overheat. After 3 flashes it goes up in smoke... literally. Again, lucky me I got one right from the get go.

So the lesson is... be prepared, try to get it right as soon as possible. Fleeting opportunities do happen even while doing planned photography. You'll be sorry if you miss them