I was asking friends & people I know to model for me so I could practice shooting portraits, in particular off-camera flash setup. After going through some of my pictures on Flickr someone I met during a weekend VOC trip volunteered. We’re both photographers so the deal was she’d pose for me if I do the same in return. Somehow I got out of the session without having to pose for her (thank god, it’d have been ugly as I’m not good in front of the camera). Anyway since she has never done any modeling before and I don’t really know her that well, she was quite nervous at the beginning of the shoot. It certainly gave me hands-on practice in terms of trying to make the model comfortable and showing her own personality in front of the camera. Coming from a purely landscape photographer background I think I’m slowly getting better at working with people and capture the moment.
As Richard Avedon, one of the true masters of portrait photography, said years ago…
“A portrait is not a likeness. The moment an emotion or fact is transformed into a photograph it is no longer a fact but an opinion. There is no such thing as inaccuracy in a photograph. All photographs are accurate. None of them is the truth.”
Such an inspiring quote.
At first the model was quite nervous so I got her to make faces
Then we ran around on the field
Once she became comfortable in front of the camera we were talking!
I think you did a good job on these shots.
Third and last shots = YES. Great captures. Love the playful feel of the third and the sensual thing you’ve got going in the last. The desaturated colours and low contrast add to it so much. Well done!