| Author: steve barnes |
Starting school can be a magical time in the life of a child. There are curious new sights and sounds, a complete and abrupt change in the familiar routine, and many unknown faces, some of whom may eventually grow to be their closest friends. And then there's the teacher ... a new authority figure ... for many children, the first substitute for Mom. I remember the day my little Emma started to kindergarten. Her mom and I had to come to grips with some very mixed emotions that day. We shed some tears. For the past five years, she had been our little baby girl, and Mommies' best friend. Although, we appreciated and shared in the fact that this day was a very exciting one in little Emma's life, we were simultaneously saddened. See, Emma is our youngest of five children. We felt like our little baby girl was all in one instant grown up, and a beautiful and familiar chapter was closing in our lives.
When Emma burst into the room that first day after school, her mind was racing faster than her mouth could translate. Of course Mommy and Daddy listened intently as their little girl described all the details of her rich new world. "So Emma; how is your teacher? Is she nice? Do you like her?" "Yes Mommy, she's very nice! I think I like her." "So what did you learn at school today, Emma? Did you practice your ABC's? Did you paint me a picture?" "Uh ... no Daddy ... we learned about the rules." "The rules in your classroom? Can you remember them? Can you tell us?" Emma gazed up and to her left as if she was recounting the events of her first day in kindergarten, and then quickly she glanced back at us, eyes widening, and in her precious little girl's voice, she said, "Well Daddy... rule number eight is ... All boogies, are best left inside your nose!"
Emma's mom and I just looked at each other, and then we both burst out laughing ... Laughing under our breath of course, because we knew from the look in Emma's face that the new teacher, the new rules, and especially rule number eight, had made a huge impact on our young daughter. This was serious. This would not be soon forgotten. This was Emma's first day in kindergarten.
When we were first introduced to the world of portrait photography, we soon found that here too, there is a rule number eight. A rule that is so important, so serious, we absolutely must never forget it. Rule number eight applies always in the world of portrait photography, to be sure. But at no other time does it apply with the same importance as it does before a photo shoot. When we first began in portrait photography, I think we must have been somewhat aware of rule number eight, but we failed to fully appreciate the importance of remembering it always. We were in for a hard lesson.
It was a typically hot July day in Houston, when my wife took the call. "Who was that, Honey?" "A lady was calling to schedule a photo shoot for her family ... her, her husband, her mom and dad, and her four children. She wants to come in at 7:00 Wednesday evening." "Oh, that's cool! Does she want a portrait of her whole family together?" "I think she does." "Do you think we will have enough space to fit them all in our little studio?" "Well, we'll just have to do our best."
At a quarter till six that Wednesday evening panic struck hard in our little studio. We had one fully charged battery, and our battery charger was no where to be found. "Hi, it's nice to meet you. I'm Steve. How are you folks this evening? Please make yourselves comfortable and we'll be right with you." "Honey, you weren't able to find the charger?" "No I couldn't, we'll just have to make do." "Okay folks, sorry for the wait. Let's go and do some outdoor shots in the garden first, while the light is good, and then we'll come inside for the formal studio portraits you want. Did you want the whole family as a group portrait?" "Yes, we would like to get a formal group portrait of the whole family."
The garden shots went really well that evening, despite our anxiety over having just one fully charged battery, and no battery charger. We finished up just before sundown, and then headed inside to start the formal studio shots. "This is our change room, if you would like to change now for your formal poses."
"Hey Honey, this flash card is about 80% full, do you think I should download it before we start the formal shots?" "Yeah, it's probably a good idea. You know, we really do need to get another card or two, so we won't have this problem." "Yeah I know. Can you just go out and talk to them will I download this? I'll only be a few minutes." Forty five minutes later, our clients were becoming impatient, and I was becoming very anxious. "I'm so sorry for the wait folks. We are trying to download your garden images, and our computer is running super slow this evening. It should only be a few more minutes though. Would anyone like a glass of iced tea?" Ten minutes later... "Okay folks, again I'm so sorry for the delay, but I think we're ready to get started now."
After a couple of test shots, tweaking the lights, and adjusting the overall exposure, we seated the first grouping. Mother and daughter ... all went well... then... mother, daughter, and grandmother ... everything was going fine... "Okay, now I think we're ready for the whole family. Let me get the other guys back in here, and then we'll seat you." I spent the next five to ten minutes getting everyone seated and arranged just right. I explained and demonstrated masculine and feminine head tilt, proper poster , and hand posing for the most elegant effect. "Okay, everybody looks great. Give me a nice smile. On three... One...Two...Three ... just a second ... did that flash? Well, let's try it again... nice smile everybody... One... Two... Three... Uh ... still no flash? Uh, I'm so sorry. I don't understand ... we've never had a problem with this... Everyone just relax. Please, give me just a minute. I'm sure I can get it going." This strobe set was practically new, and was in great working order. What happened that evening was that our one and only sync cord somehow failed. After 10 minutes of working frantically, accompanied by many unexpected flashes in our clients' eyes ("Hey, it's lightning in here! Could somebody please tell us what's going on?") as they sat their waiting on me, I finally admitted failure and gave up. The rest of the photo shoot had to be cancelled. What an embarrassment! What a blow to the reputation of our business! What a blow to our self esteem!
We did however learn a very valuable lesson that evening. The lesson is: whatever you do, never forget rule number eight, and especially before a photo shoot. Rule number eight for the portrait photographer is: Whatever you do, make sure you're prepared. In portrait photography, being prepared for a photo shoot means, knowing in advance what the expected outcomes are. You should know who your subject is, what they are like, what their personal style is, and how best to reflect this in the portraits you create for them. You should know exactly what they have in mind as far as groupings, indoor or outdoor, and formal or casual. You should also be familiar with the setting you will be shooting in (e.g. what the obstacles are, what the lighting is like, what are the time constraints if any, availability of working power outlets, etc.). But probably, the most critical part of being prepared for a photo shoot is making sure you have backups for all your equipment. This means you should have a minimum of two camera bodies. You should have extra batteries for all cameras, flash units, light meters, etc. You should certainly have extra film, or if you shoot digital, you should have several flash cards ready to use. In the studio, you should keep on hand spare modeling lamps and strobe flash tubes, and you should definitely have a back up for your sync cord or radio slave system. It's also a good idea to have an extra light stand, strobe unit, and power pack for your strobes. Whatever you do as a portrait photographer, never forget to remember rule number eight: make sure you're prepared. May you have a very good day, and happy clicking.
Steve Barnes is a professional portrait photographer, free lance writer, and co-owner of Hayley Barnes Photography, in League City, Texas. Please visit his website at: Hayley Barnes Photography. Elegant portrait photographer. Children, Families, High School Seniors, and Quincea?eras. "Custom Designed, Uniquely You" |
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