Autumn Photoshoot

Inspiration

Yesterday afternoon, on Saturday the 29th of October, a photoshoot that had been planned about three years ago finally came off. I have long been a fan of the work of a Ukrainian photographer and Youtuber based in Calgary, who produces the most wonderful natural light portraits. https://www.youtube.com/c/IreneRudnyk

Irene goes to thrift stores in search of gorgeous vintage dresses, skirts, night shirts and all sorts of props. She is influenced by romantic novels and Renaissance and Pre raphaelite paintings which she endeavours to recreate.

Model

I have neither the money nor the space to store lots of costumes however I noticed a young lady at work who has an extensive wardrobe of outfits and I decided to approach her and ask if she might be willing to be my model. I gave her time to mull over the proposition after which she consented.

Location

I knew exactly where I wanted to take the photographs as I had previsualised the look for which I was aiming. During one of my country walks I had found some woodland where I felt the light was particularly special. I tried it out with some family photos, and it was just perfect. I particularly wanted to do the photoshoot in autumn but due to my own lack of confidence I did not push, the season slipped by and then we found ourselves in a pandemic.

However, since then I have gained a lot more experience in portraiture through Bracknell Camera Club https://bracknell-camera-club.co.uk, working on self-portraits, natural light portraiture with a model, studio lighting, high key photoshoots and more. With these activities I have built up my confidence.

Tips

There are number of valuable lessons I have learnt to ensure a model photoshoot goes smoothly.

1. Know your camera well and decide in advance on a starting point for the set up so that you can focus your attention on the model and not the camera dials.

2. Create a mood board so that you have some clear ideas of what you are hoping to achieve. I use Pinterest to do this. https://www.pinterest.co.uk

3. Plan your props which will be the perfect tool to put your model more at ease so that they do not have to think about what to do with their hands.

4. Check out the location earlier in the day, or perhaps the day before, to get a clear idea of what will work and gauge the lighting.

5. Then on the day, most important of all is to engage with your subject, to put them at ease and in doing so you will naturally bring expressive quality to your images. I would say that this is the key to good portraiture. The rest comes naturally.

6. Show your model some of the photos so that it becomes a collaboration. They can see for themselves what is working and what is not and build upon that.

I have always said that there is something very special about skin tones and nature going well together. The first time in a studio can be very daunting and sterile for an inexperience model and it can involve a lot of effort on both sides to relax in the glare of studio lighting. However, in the open air, the fact that the environment is familiar to the subject, they are more likely to appear relaxed in front of the camera. This was certainly evident judging from the results.