It’s been just about a month since I shot my first session with my adorable little cousins. I can’t even tell you the mix of emotions I had leading up to the shoot. I want so badly to be a photographer, and a good one at that, but I’m very much aware that I have a ways to go before I’m truly happy with the images I produce. I can picture in my head what I want my photos to look like, but my lack of experience, coupled with the knowledge I still need to grow (it truly seems never ending) and the limitations of my current camera and lens make it a bit of a challenge.
In that last sentence I listed experience first, and there was a reason for that. I believe that knowledge and equipment will only get me so far, but you have to practice and build experience to really grow as a photographer, especially as an aspiring professional. So, while I was beyond nervous for my first session at how the shoot itself would go and, more importantly, how the images would turn out, I was excited. I was excited because I knew it was the start of me building experiences.
And from that first session, I learned. A lot.
1. Be yourself. If you are comfortable behind the camera, your clients will be too. At the beginning of the session I had a million things going on in my mind. So much so that I couldn’t think clearly and actually let my little cousins start calling the shots! Hah! I took a deep breath, relaxed, and took control. It seemed to flow from there.
2. I was so very very worried about posing. I feel pretty comfortable about the technical aspects of photography, but I doubt my “eye” for poses and composition. I studied photographer blogs for ideas and inspirations and tried to figure out what in the world I would have the kids do. Well, during the session all those ideas were lost in the mush that was my brain. But then I realized that kids will be kids and produce some great natural poses without any instructions. From there, things just flowed. No cheesy poses. Just me capturing candid, natural, real photos which is precisely what I want to do. So, I learned not to get caught up in memorizing poses and composition. It’s great to have some ideas and inspiration, but more likely than not, ideas will flow once you get underway.
3. Have confidence. I told myself going into the session that even if I wasn’t a “professional”, I was going to play pretend and act like I was (and that I knew what I was doing). And you know what, when you start acting, you sort of take on the character and amazing things can happen. I acted confident, even though I may not have been feeling it. The longer I acted, the more that confidence became part of my reality that day.
4. Developing a workflow post-shoot takes time and patience. When you have 400 images to cull and edit, an efficient workflow is a must. I sure didn’t have one following this session, but I hope that with more experience, I can develop one that works for me.
5. Batch editing is awesome.
6. And some random lessons…
- Always bring a comb and hairspray, especially on a windy day because editing flyaway hairs is a pain in the you know what
- Auto White Balance is not so good on my T1i
- Make sure you get at least a handful of good shots of all of your subjects together; I got so many great individual shots, but so few with all three kids
- Two year olds can be a challenge and stubborn
- Two year olds can also be amazing and be the subject of some of your favorite photos
I also learned that I have a long ways to go and a lot more sessions to shoot and business “stuff” to figure out. But I also learned that I’m capable of producing some great images that I’m so very proud of, and my family was too.
I can’t wait for my next session this weekend. I know I’ll be nervous (heck, I already am), but I just keep telling myself that I need to be confident and remind myself that if I want my dream to become a reality, it doesn’t come overnight. I have to build experience. And build experience is what I’m determined to do. (No matter how scary the journey may be.)
