A little over a year ago I asked my sister-in-law, Rachel, and a friend of her’s, Karen, if they would like to be models for me to practice on. They were gracious and allowed me to experiment and try incorporating some techniques I had just learned at a workshop in Indiana. We had a great time and I feel like that session was a boost to my confidence as a photographer. Sometimes it’s just nice to not have that pressure of a paying client and feeling like you have to nail the pictures because you are provided a service and the client has that expectation. With these practice sessions, that pressure of having to be on and have the creative juices up and running isn’t nearly as overwhelming as just going out and shooting for the simple joy of learning.
With that being said, Rachel’s graduation from USC grad school is quickly approaching and my mother-in-law wanted some updated pictures of Rachel to send out in the graduation announcements and asked if I could take a couple pictures for her. Of course I agreed and we shot the session Saturday afternoon in a field.
I have to say, children are great, but after working with them for the past several sessions, it’s so refreshing to have an adult to shoot. We were done in half the time and I didn’t have to shoot nearly as much to try and capture that moment when everything comes together and the kids are all smiling and looking at you.
I was also able to try more back lit shots and experiment a bit more with posing, both of which I struggle with. I was fairly pleased with how the images turned out and I’m glad Rachel was a good sport. We brought along my sister and nephew, who I think felt left out of the photo session, because he would just randomly run up to Rachel and want to be in the picture too. He’s a ham, what can I say?
One last thing I did different with this session was I shot the whole thing with my telephoto lens. I have this habit of using the same lens over and over because I’m comfortable with it. I decided for this session to branch out and actually pull it out of the case. I sometimes forget I really like the look it gives me, until I use it again.
Anyways, these photos are examples of what a typical senior session with me would be like, which I currently don’t advertise, but if you are interested in a shoot like this, please let me know and we can set something up!
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