Shooting to a brief

Working to a brief can be a piece of cake when you know what the subject is about and who you are photographing but more often than not working for ublication its all on the fly. For me I always like to know in my mind what I want from the images and intend to get. I had some ideas for the shoot, not knowing my subject meant meeting and getting to know them pretty quickly and making them feel comfortable. So on arrival first things first a cuppa and a chitchat. If you gel with your sitter then it just flows. However the sitter can be nervous as they dont know what is expected of them so don't rush into the job. I find the best pics are the ones at the end of the shoot.

The article was for a set of pictures about a blogger called Sam who writes about not being infertile. Sam has written about her journey which is upsetting for anyone going through this sad time especially while her girlfriends are having families. So I explained what I wanted and started off with a couple of warm up shots. When you look at the first shots to the last shots you will see how the shoot progressed and Sam became more comfortable with how she was posing.

So I'm not asking to much here just explaing that I'm setting up so Sam gets used to me waving the camera about. The first image was more of her listening to me chat away. Then she becomes more engaged.

So as you can see above just some taster pics then we move on to more images with emotion.

So now I'm looking for a selection happy and sad images and not wanting to confuse her I run off some thoughtful/sad images. I'm watching all the time to get natural looks and when I chat to her whilst taking photos she reacts and when I see what I want I the snap away and then get her to repose.

Again you can tell I'm chatting to Sam and shes reacting giving me the happy pics in a natuaral way which means she can be herself and not work hard to give me the pose I want.

Changing light can give you different mode so don't be affraid to mix it up move around move your subject around.

My sad or concerned images were taken at time when Sam was chatting and not really posed up for the shot so during conversation it was a case of keep chatting and watching ready for the shot.

The use of props can add content to an image

The above image using a shard of mirror was to give more impact re being broken hearted/emotional so don't be affraid to try props. Sometimes they work sometimes they don't.

For me the use of the laptop explained she was a blogger as per the context of the brief.

finally I wantd to add some mood and made a selection of the images Black & White then softened them giving a more mood.

A little insight to my work flow.