Now that my bhag's written, gotta write some more

I've started my "practice" shoots this week. I decided that for the month of April I was going to schedule a variety of shoots to build my portfolio so that I could officially start in May. I am so glad I did it that way. The two shoots I've had this week were both very different.

On Monday, Benna Lani came in for her 1 year portraits. She was a doll. I was asking her to give Joshua some tips - but in his defense, he's been my only subject for a very long time. He's due a vacation. Anyway, she came complete with three wardrobe changes and a smile to light up the room. Her mom was very interactive with her the entire shoot, and had very specific requests. I like that. I'm pretty much a veteran of baby shoots by now (lol not really), but I did learn some new things with this one:

1. Even if the mom has specific requests, still suggest poses and props that you think might be suitable. I think because she was so in control, I just kinda let it happen. The pictures came out well, but in retrospect I would've liked to have taken some of her on her belly.
2. Be prepared. Taking Joshua's pics is one thing, inviting someone else into my home to do their children's pics is totally different. I praise Yah that I followed his leading and all went well. By the time they got here, my studio was fully set up, water was boiled for herbal tea, and all necessary forms were printed. Mom felt very relaxed and well served. When moms come here with their little ones, I want to offer them as much comfort as I can. I aced that with this shoot, and got rave reviews.
3. Christine (the momma) suggested that I have a wardrobe for babies available of little suits, party dressed and dressy shoes. I like that idea. Most people will undoubtedly bring their own, but it's good to have it available.



The second shoot I did this week was for my girl, Tarsha. This was the first time I had a subject who was posable (you should see the twists, bends and acrobatics I made this girl get into!). LOL. She was a great sport. We did a "high fashion" photo shoot. To this day I'm still not fully sure what that means, I just knew the look I was going for in my head. I believe we achieved it to some degree...but Tarsha's diva personality came through in all her pictures. She's too fly for grunge. I learned A TON on this shoot:

1. Dress the part. I shoulda known...afterall, it's Tarsha. I wore my pink jogging suit and thought I was perfect. Tarsha said I gave off an unprofessional aura and that if we weren't friends, she would think I was a girl playing with a camera. She said my image needs to be funky and artistic at all times so that the models feel like I know what I'm doing. Hmmm...I guess I didn't realize rolling around on the floor with babies requires slightly different attire than taking professional headshots. Point taken! lol
2. Editing adult photos takes WAY longer than editing children's photos. Babies are perfect already. Adults have pores that show up on camera.
3. Adult photo shoots yield a lot more usable prints than baby photos. I take an average of 200 baby pictures to get 20 pictures I can use. I took about 100 photos of Tarsha and I like about 80 of them. It could be because she wasn't sucking her thumb or running at me in any of the pictures.
4. I do not want to book shoots in the evening. I thought it would be kosher to book people after Joshua's in bed. Not kosher. By that time I'm exhausted and my client would be getting my left overs instead of my best. Daytime and weekend shoots all the way!
5. Study poses. I looked over a sheet of poses a few nights before the shoot and thought it was enough. It wasn't. I need to study them more. Taking long pauses in the middle of the shoot to "think of" what else I want her to do is not acceptable. Just like Tarsha needs to be able to see a person and know what clothing works best on them (she's an image consultant), I need to see a person and know what poses they would look best in. It was a lot of trial and error. Some things looked fierce, others looked awkward. Those will most likely end up on the chopping block. lol.
6. I really do need that new lens. I didn't buy it (the one I spoke about in a previous blog) because I spoke to some professionals who said I needed a mounted flash more. I need the lens. I had a lot of lighting issues with Tarsha's shoot that could've been avoided with a lens that lets in more light. Taking pictures of babies where the light is concentrated on a small area is way different than adults where the light must fill the entire room. I'm getting the lens tomorrow. Case closed.
7. Just like Benna Lani, Tarsha also came complete with wardrobe change and accessory changes. Including the time it took her to change (not long), her shoot took about 2 hours - compared to the baby shoot with three wardrobe changes that took about 40 minutes. A baby shoot is non-stop clicking. An adult shoot is more precise.

I think that's it for now. I'm still editing Tarsha's photos and I have a few more shoots coming up next week. I'll keep you posted on how they go.