Skip to main content

A Second Go for one of my Clients


In this incidence my client made specific requests for her daughter and friend to have a fashion shoot with the purpose of providing images for the girls' bedrooms.  And those images were provided to their satisfaction.  However, it was later identified that an image for mum's lounge was also required and I didn't quite get what she was hoping for.  I could sense she was struggling to make up her mind, not because they were all too good to choose between but instead because there wasn't one that stood out for her as an image for her space.  So the best solution to that problem was to bring her back in and concentrate instead on what mum wanted for her lounge wall. 


So that is just what we did.  And I am so glad we did as it made it easier to concentrate on just one child and what works for her and I had a great time, really stretching myself and even trying a couple of new things that produced images I am certain I will be replicating in future sessions. 


Just something for you to note here.  I used only white paper as the background for this session.  I love the versatility of the white paper.  In a single session I can go from pure white to shades of grey and even bring it right to black (even though pure white isn't common in my studio sessions these days). 


It takes a good understanding of light along with the right tools to have this ability to turn white paper black.  It is another example of the skill level I'm able to offer my clients.  My lighting is what sets me apart from many other photographers and it is always a priority of mine to provide technically superior images.  Its not just enough for me to capture expressions in an average environment.  Everyone has a camera these days and I don't see why people need to pay photographers unless the photographer is able to produce images they themselves cannot produce on their own. 


Prior to becoming a photographer myself I only ever paid another photographer if they could give me something I could not produce.  The cost of the sessions and portraits we purchased was worth it to me because I got something really special that I will keep for a lifetime.  And I will visit photographers again in future as there are still things I cannot do (ie a family portrait, and to be honest, I have plans for a boudoir session for myself sometime next year).  I really cherish the special photos I have of my friends and family making them the most valuable things I own.


Perhaps needless to say, mum was a little spoilt for choice this time around.  I myself struggled to choose my favourite but this session did provide me with a new really big sample for my studio which I absolutely adore (its the black and white with the black background, in case you wanted to know).

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

My Work Experience Week by Hester Sharpe

A week in the life of a Photographers assistant, is not all about saying cheese! I’m Hester Sharpe, currently at JCC but took a week out of normal school life on work experience to be a photographer’s assistant and learn the bits behind the camera, photograph and the process to get to the end result. During my week of work experience in photography I have learnt that there is a lot more than just taking the pictures and printing them. The steps in between are the key to getting the perfect photo. For example the photos have to be cropped, tweaked, edited, colour corrected. That is just a taste I have had in the processing of the photos and there is a lot more than just those things. Those processes are the most time consuming part of the photograph and a tremendous amount of detail is put in to the picture but all the hours spent are paid off with the end result; a perfect picture. It isn’t just how the picture looks; presentation is a key to photography too. Selecting the best ...

Wedding Workshop in Nottingham

On Wednesday of this week I made the trek up to Nottingham (which wasn't actually much of a trek compared to most of the other delegates who travelled from as far as Glasgow, Portsmouth and South Wales) for a workshop held at Crash Taylor's home. Crash, a very talented photographer, specialising in weddings is someone I can highly recommend to anyone. Apart from spending the morning getting to know the other photographers we then spent the afternoon photographing a hired model, in her own wedding dress, as we wandered through Nottingham Castle. It provided me a chance to see how other photographers handled their weddings as well as a chance to experiment with equipment I haven't had a chance to play around with. Like in this image to the right. Here I used my flash, mounted on a tripod off to the side. This allowed me to achieve studio quality lighting out of the studio, a technique I will be using in my environmental portraiture. I can't seem to make up my mind on whi...

More Newborn Baby Portraits

This time we worked with a more alert baby, even though she was within the 2 weeks we recommend for newborn sessions.  But to be honest, I do like getting a selection of both.  Its nice to get the chance to see their eyes as well as those beautifully peaceful sleeping portraits.  Making eye contact is just difficult and smiles are nearly impossible, which are only wind related if we managed them at all anyway.    I always try to get a few detail shots in order to capture their tiny little fingers and toes.  These can be quite difficult with an awake baby as they move so much and I need to rely on autofocus to make sure these details are in focus and with such a narrow depth of field this can be difficult.  And rather than just a hand or a foot I like to get some of baby's face in the shot as well which poses another problem with an awake baby, they just don't stay still for very long so their hands and feet aren't always in the right place....

I Shot My First Wedding

I finally did it, my first wedding. After years of saying I would never do a wedding I finally decided to have a go. I don't know what convinced me. Maybe it was the thought that if I did one I could say with authority that I don't do weddings. My husband had been on my back for ages trying to get me to give one a go. For me I would have to say that the most difficult aspect of wedding photography is the pressure and stress caused by the importance of the day. I worried about this since the day Dawn emailed me to say they had decided they wanted to book me. I hadn't expected to get this wedding given that I had no samples to show them. And I certainly didn't give them a hard sell as I still wasn't convinced that this was something I wanted to do. I kind of figured that if I got this wedding, with no samples and no experience then it was meant to be. Well I have samples now. In the weeks prior to the wedding I read and I read and I read. I read books, magazines and ...

Portraits of a Newborn Baby Girl and Her Family

Its always so nice when a family return to have their latest addition photographed in the same way as their first child. Its a great feeling knowing they cherished my work so much the first time that they want to come back to continue the tradition. I also love it when I'm given permission to share the portraits I've created. Its not often that I'm asked not to share but I never take this opportunity for granted because I know how sensitive people can be about sharing personal moments. And I'm especially grateful here for being allowed to share some of the more intimate ones. Although I always ask permission to share the standard stuff I create, I always make it known that I am fine with and fully understand if there are any private portraits that should remain so. In this case I was given full permission to share everything and I'm so pleased to get the chance to show some of the other work we can do for families. I really love how skin tones turn out ...