I shoot mostly landscapes and food. The closest thing to a live moving subject usually purrs or roars but seldom speaks English (or any other human language). But once in a while I like to challenge myself by taking pictures of models, you know a person, with feelings and moods and one who can speak back to me and more importantly judge my pictures (as I usually don’t get close enough to a lion to show it the pictures I took of it). When I do work with people, I generally have a concept image in mind and I’m trying to make it happen. This is far out of my comfort zone so I use every opportunity I get to take pictures of models.
Recently Laura, a friend of mine, got engaged and I offered to take her engagement pictures in San Francisco. We did the session on January 1st. It was cold but really sunny with clear skies. We had narrowed the setting to three sites: Baker Beach in the morning, then the Legion of Honor and then the Golden Gate Park. We never made it to the Golden Gate Park as we ran out of time.
Golden Gate Bridge from Baker Beach
The day was hectic. It was a first for me to shoot people outdoors where it is more complicated to set the lighting than in my studio. You want to make sure you give your models the best of you as they are spending their time with you. Especially for engagement pictures, you want to be confident that your pictures will represent their love for each other, their happiness. You also want them to look good but natural.
More than once that day I asked myself “Why did I offer to do that?”. But when you take pictures of people you are not alone. I got a lot of help from my wife, who was in charge of handling my huge reflector in high wind, making sure the light on their faces looked smooth. I also got a big help from my models as Laura and Nervin are very natural in front of a camera. The fact that Laura and I have known each other for years and that I had known Nervin for quite some time was surely one of the things that made it a success. As they both knew me, they were comfortable and relaxed when they were posing. That in turns, made me more relaxed because I was having a blast with them.
Laura and Nervin at Baker Beach in San Francisco
Apart
Laura and Nervin at the Legion of Honor in San Francisco
Full portrait of Laura
What I learned from that shoot is that if you are comfortable and relax with your models and make sure everybody is having fun, you’ll have tons of opportunities to get great pictures to share with them.
In the end, it worked out pretty well. I am confident that I was able to get images representing their love and happiness and was really satisfied with the pictures I took. But most importantly they loved the pictures I took and their friends told them the two of them looked wonderful.
They are both very sweet people and I wish them all the happiness in the world for the many years to come and I’m thrilled the pictures I took are part of their happiness. Congratulations Laura and Nervin!