Much like myself in this photography bit, Emily has just completely thrown herself in the modelling ring. Unlike me, however, Emily has a true passion for what she's doing, and I'm sure she'll take it someplace special. She was willing to not only tolerate, but trust my inexperienced ass (especially with such an underwhelming request for photography subjects), so I was more than happy to help give her portfolio the best boost I could. This was a really great way to end the project, because it's such a big part of professional photography, and there was a real sense of importance to it. If I don't put forward a solid product, I'm not only letting myself down, but my model as well. Through all my planning stumbles and camera fumbles she stayed helpful and hopeful, and for that, I'm greatly appreciative!
Stumbles and fumbles there certainly were! When Emily first contacted me, neither of us really had any idea of what to do for a shoot. After she'd given me a list of different shoots she already had in her repertoire, I decided a more glamorous dress-y style shoot might fill a void, and she loved the idea. She even had all the make-up, hair, and outfit sorted out for me. All we needed was a nice ritzy location. Maybe a hotel or something. Nothin' to it! We set a day and a place, all I'd simply do was phone ahead a few days in advance to make sure they were okay with me coming in and snapping a few photos.
Enter the most frustrating and de-motivating experience of the entire one month project. I'd gotten in touch with a really nice hotel, actually built in an old castle, I spoke with the front desk, and they politely referred me to a manager or something, but they weren't available for a few days. No biggie. On comes the day of the shoot, I call again, no response. It's cool, I'll try another hotel. "Yes, you'll just have to speak with so-and-so" - no answer. This became a pattern, a complicated web of voice-mails, 'you've-got-the-wrong-person's, and okay, now what do I do? Finally, my original plan comes back into play. I get a phonecall back. I'm pleading, trying to be as accommodating and unobtrusive as possible. "Yes". "It shouldn't be a problem". "We may not be able to do it today, I'll have to talk to the sales department". I can live with that. It's taken care of, what a relief. Somebody else gets back to me. Suddenly, they want 300 bucks to book a space for 2 hours. Again, I plead it's non-professional, I just want a few shots. No dice. More phonecalls, less dice. I cancel the shoot for the day, feeling completely defeated. Moral of the story: Sneak in, quickly get your shots, and if somebody approaches you play dumb. Or you could try running for it?
One of the places I thought I could rely on for the day, the Art Gallery, happened to be closed for the day. So I continued to play the worst game of tag ever (I have a scar on my forehead from playing tag in the house as a kid - that was only half a day of suffering) over the phone with these hotels for the next few days. No results. Eventually I get some positive news from the Art Gallery. Anybody in Edmonton who's been there may know by now, that's where we ended up. Again, we set a time, and I put on a pair of adult diapers while I waited for something to go horribly wrong again.
Funny thing, it all worked out okay. I chose a less busy time, desperately stated my case to the front desk - who totally didn't give a shit as long as I was out of the way and not in the galleries, finally met up with my model, and we were on our way! Lighting was a little finicky in the heart of downtown, but it was mid-day, and I picked the place for all the available windows and natural light, so it was doable. I had little to no experience posing models, and I tried to sound like I sort of knew what I was doing, but Emily was a huge help, and she did most of that work for me.
So we got our photos and were outta there within the span of about an hour. Super simple. Couple of notes on set-up: I used a 100mm macro lens for the more close-up and portrait shots. With a higher focal length you tend to get more camera-shake, so I also used a tripod to keep my photos looking crisp. Once I was satisfied with a good number of close up shots, I switched lenses to a 18-135mm zoom lens, offering a little more flexibility and some wider angles, but I tried to keep the zoom over 40mm to avoid getting some wonky looking exaggerated features. Most of the photos were shot in aperture priority mode. Being in a public place, I did this to keep things moving quick, and to get a good variety of shots in a short time frame. Manual mode was still used a few times when I wasn't quite getting the picture I wanted. The lighting was also weaker in some areas, so I used the built-in flash, which is generally a no-no... however, a simple torn piece of paper and a few tabs of tape fixed to it helped soften the light. At the right distance it worked like a charm.
Photo editing after the shoot also played a big role. I will state, unapologetically, that the photos were cropped, exposure/colour enhanced, noise removed, etc. The composition or 'meat' of the photo itself hasn't been altered in any significant way, but as I've stated before, I love the tinkering aspect that editing offers, and if you want to consistently get the wow out of your photos without loads of planning, patience, and nifty gear; and in such a short time span, this is the only way. My model and I are both exceedingly happy with the photos, and that's all that matters! If you stay tuned, I'll be sure to do a little feature on photo editing, so you can get a better idea of the before and after's, and how you can do the same!
So that's a wrap! Kind of... keep an eye out in the coming weeks: I'm hoping to do a video outlining my process, techniques, and final thoughts about the project. I feel like I've gotten to the point where I could consider entry-level professional photography, and I want to show you how you can get there just as easily! As expected, the 'success' or 'failure' state of the photography challenge is tough to gauge. I personally see some failure in the aspect that the last few weeks were pretty un-motivating and uninspired. I'm really happy with the final product though, so it was a success in that regard. I'll go more into depth on how I feel about the project as a whole, but lets start seeing some suggestions for the next one! I plan to take a few weeks off summarizing the last month, planning the next one, and of course, slacking off, but it feels like a solid first entry, and I can't wait for another!
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