Alex
I spent the day today working on a portrait session for a young man, and completing assignment number two in the Project52 program that I am working on. The assignment was the difficult task of photographing a stranger. While I have known the young mans mom for more then 20 years, this is the first time that I have actually met him. This photo session has been planned since before the holidays, and I have been looking forward to it with a great deal of excitement. I have also been scared to death at the idea of doing this, as I am much more comfortable shooting a landscape, or a piece of fruit then I am a person. Don’t get me wrong, I actually love photographs of people. I was amazed one day when I realized that the majority of the photos that I have “favorited” on Flickr are actually portraits! But actually photographing them is something that is definitely out of my comfort zone!
Overall this was an amazing experience and I really learned a lot of great things!
- First, spare batteries are critical! I got my lights all set up and on the first test shot, not a single flash fired. The battery in the transmitter was dead, but luckily I keep a spare battery in my kit and in 2 minutes I had the battery changed and we were good to go. Not having a backup would have killed the shoot before we even got started!
- Include the subject in the decisions, let them see the shots you have gotten and really make them a part of the process, and not just a prop for the shot. The interaction goes a long way to building a trust the really comes through in the images
- Explain what you are doing and why you are doing it. Again, you are building a relationship with a stranger!
- Do some “fun” shots! Play catch with a ball and laugh! Some of the best shots I got were the unplanned, spontaneous ones!
- Take periodic breaks, just to give the subject a break – this is a great time to take a step back, look at what you have got and evaluate it and decide what to do next.
- Have some sample photos that the subject picks to work with – this really helps with posing!
At the end of the shoot we all sat down around the laptop and went through the images and mother and son picked the ones that they liked, and we will get them all processed and ready to print. The image in this post is one of my favorites from the day – the expression just seems natural, no fear, no concern. By the end of the day we were already planning when we will do this again to do some outdoor shooting on the golf course, and no longer strangers. Should be a lot of fun!