Thinking back to when I had senior portraits done I’m astounded my parents actually paid real money for what the photographer put me through. I was forced into a ruffly shirt and black dinner jacket that my response who knows how many other boys had worn that season. Forced to sit under blazing lights in a stuffy room with a generic backdrop. “Tilt your head, hold your hands this way” then BOOM, the shutter trips and the lights sear my retina’s for three days. All of that agony and the result was just another skinny kid in an oversize smelly coat and ruffled white shirt.
Please, please, don’t do that to your kids!
Doug and his mother Tina approached me to take his senior portrait after seeing my landscapes do well at the Sunrise Beach School charity auction. Knowing Doug is an accomplished High School Football Player I didn’t want to confine him to a studio so I suggested the use of natural lighting in an outdoor setting. The intent was to place him far enough away from the background of foliage that it would blur when I focused on him. I did use fill flash on this shot as we were shooting between rain showers on an intermittently overcast day. But it fit Doug’s style to not be forced into sitting under hot lights in a “costume”.
Do you know your clients? Meet their needs and personalities when shooting and your referral business will grow.
