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Rambabe: Warrior Woman with Machine Gun – Rambo Parody

A blonde warrior woman in a camouflage bikini and red headband (spoofing Rambo) emerges from a lake at sunset while firing a machine gun and grimacing.
A warrior woman (a Rambo spoof), emerges from the water at sunset while firing an M249 machine gun as the water splashes around her. 1/160 f/9 at ISO 800. Contact me to license this image.

“Rambabe” is my latest personal project, done just for kicks as a creative recharge. It is, of course, inspired by the Rambo movies; I own the ’80s trilogy. While watching it one day I decided it would be fun to make creative images that change it up a bit and have a beautiful, tough woman as the “one man army” instead of a sweaty dude (no offense, Stallone).

And since I’m from Florida, there was never any question that she would be in the water. I scouted several places in the Tallahassee region, originally looking for something swampy that might be able to pass for Vietnam, but I decided on a more open-water location with Lake Jackson so I would get a clear view of the sunset.

A warrior woman partially submerged in a lake with a machine gun.
A warrior woman (a Rambo parody) partially submerged in a body of water at sunset with an M249 machine gun. 1/250 f/10 ISO 800. Contact me to license this image.

I rented a rubber replica of an M249 machine gun and fake ammo from a prop house out in L.A. (OK, I admit it; it was a rather arduous process; “I’m not going to rob a bank, honest!”).

I wanted to do a behind-the-scenes video again (embedded below) to show the creative photography process from conception to realization. This time, though, I wanted to play with the high-definition video capability of my Canon 1D Mark IV and create a quick, film-like intro to set the stage for the photo shoot. In addition to the gun, I also rented an old military radio and microphone just for the intro. We filmed a short parody of a scene from Rambo: First Blood Part II, my favorite of the trilogy.

The beautiful Christine O’Connell brought Rambabe to life, donning a camouflage bikini and braving the lake at sunset with her warrior game face on. For the photos, I lit Rambabe with a couple of Canon speedlight flashes, which I mention in the video below.

Carlin Trammel did great video work again (he also did the behind-the-scenes video for “Quagmire”). Marc Thomas did post-production work on the photos, Rebecca Lehman did Rambabe’s makeup, and Rick Jackson wrote the music.

Scott Holstein

Scott Holstein

Scott Holstein is a professional photographer based in Tallahassee, Florida.

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17 Comments

  1. I have to admit that I thought the concept was corny at first, BUT you really pulled it off nicely. The lighting in the photographs is so well done that the pictures almost don’t look real. I also love the interview and the way the video is edited. Nicely done!

    • Thanks, Jeremy! No; it probably would have been easier if I had. I photographed the casing later (and boy was that fun). Then Marc ‘shopped them into the frame. If you look close, the lighting gives it away.

  2. I saw a similar concept in one of Joe McNally’s books, but what you pulled of here is just plain awesome. The second picture of her submerged in the water will make a great print to hang on the wall.

  3. Wow. A VERY old article. But I’ll give it a shot that you’re still monitoring, anyway. Outstanding! Hey, it’s a parody, it’s supposed to be corny. Great idea. You should be a motion picture director. Ever done any commercials? Submit it to some Hollywood producers. I’ll bet you get a bite. . .

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