Portraits of Another Boy

For those who saw the casting call last month this entry in my blog includes portraits made from the first of those sessions. I love creating portraits. For me its more than just taking a picture. Its creating something artistic. It involves planning and thought. I always have a plan in my head and I even put it down on paper in my ideas journal. Every session I do, for my clients or my personal projects, I have a plan. Its wonderful when the resulting images match those in my head from the planning stages. The image above is a perfect match. The better I get as a photographer the closer the results are to these ideas I have.

A large part of my life is spent coming up with ideas for portraits. Sometimes I browse the internet. This will often mean Pinterest or my favourite photographer's websites. And sometimes my ideas come more passively, in watching television, movies or reading magazines. I even get ideas from eBay when I'm searching for props. Often if I come across a beautiful piece of furniture or an antique item it will spark an idea I can apply to a future shoot.

(I can't make my mind up between the image above and below. I like them both. I can't even decide which crop I prefer. Sometimes decisions can be so difficult.)

I am building a wonderful collection of props that includes a stunning set of drawers that I've used loads for both babies and children. I have a couple of prams, a sizable collection of suitcases, books, stools and of course the school desk featured above. My collection of clothing for children is growing all the time too. In fact today I just bought a new dress and a vintage toy off eBay that I can't wait to use, hopefully very soon.

This little boy you see here is both a past client and a child who attends one of the playgroups I photograph. He has always photographed well with me so I was confident he'd also do well here. He seemed to know what I wanted and did everything I asked. He was a dream to work with and he had just the look I was after for this project.

I have so many images to choose from often the hardest task is the selection process. But I think I've got it narrowed down. Unfortunately that will have to remain a secret for a little longer. For now its time to start planning the next session.

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