There is a cool place not too far from my house called DIY Photography. Basically it's a photography studio that anyone can rent out to do their own photography. When you rent the studio, you can use all of their equipment including cameras, lighting, backdrops, etc. Anyways, I follow them on Facebook and about 2 weeks ago someone posted that they were wanting to experiment with some different lighting techniques and needed a model. Anyone want free pictures taken, basically. Half joking, half serious, I asked if he would be willing to shoot a 3 year old. He must not have had any other takers, because he told me yes.
His name is Ryan McClain and he has focused mostly on landscapes in the past. It can be really difficult to make a living selling landscapes, so he decided to switch his focus to people. He is more interested in doing stylized shoots, or glamour-type shoots, so I don't think this was quite what he was hoping for. But he was willing to do them anyways, and I really appreciated it, especially since I hadn't taken any good pictures of Blake around her birthday.
He quickly learned how difficult shooting little kids can be, especially someone like Blake. If she is actually holding still, then she is doing something crazy with her eyes, mouth, or hands. I was dancing, singing, jumping around, doing anything I could think of to try to get her to smile. It is both helpful and not. As I am doing things, I noticed she was copying me and doing all sorts of crazy things with her hands.
His name is Ryan McClain and he has focused mostly on landscapes in the past. It can be really difficult to make a living selling landscapes, so he decided to switch his focus to people. He is more interested in doing stylized shoots, or glamour-type shoots, so I don't think this was quite what he was hoping for. But he was willing to do them anyways, and I really appreciated it, especially since I hadn't taken any good pictures of Blake around her birthday.
He quickly learned how difficult shooting little kids can be, especially someone like Blake. If she is actually holding still, then she is doing something crazy with her eyes, mouth, or hands. I was dancing, singing, jumping around, doing anything I could think of to try to get her to smile. It is both helpful and not. As I am doing things, I noticed she was copying me and doing all sorts of crazy things with her hands.
But sometimes her "smile" kills me. Often when I tell her to smile, she has her head tilted up really high and this goofy little grin, if you can even call it that.
You can tell when she really decided that she was done with the whole picture thing. Even bribes of giant bowls of ice cream didn't help.
With a lot of effort on everyone's part, he did manage to get some decent ones. I wish I would have had more time to think about her outfit or do her hair different. When he said he would take her pictures, he wanted to meet us at the studio within about an hour, so I didn't give me much planning time. Even so, I am happy with how they turned out and think they really captured her personality.
I appreciate Ryan being willing to take her pictures. He is still trying to build his portfolio and figure out his style, so he appreciated the practice, but he definitely did us a much bigger favor than we did for him. Check out his other stuff here.
*It was during Blake's pictures that I learned more of the type of photography Ryan is looking to do. While I think he is willing to do most anything, he is really most interested in those glamorous shots. Again, not thinking he would actually agree, I volunteered to let him practice that kind of picture on me. He said yes and we scheduled a photo shoot for myself. He even hired a make-up artist to come help out. I'll do a separate post with that photo shoot. It was a lot of fun!
*It was during Blake's pictures that I learned more of the type of photography Ryan is looking to do. While I think he is willing to do most anything, he is really most interested in those glamorous shots. Again, not thinking he would actually agree, I volunteered to let him practice that kind of picture on me. He said yes and we scheduled a photo shoot for myself. He even hired a make-up artist to come help out. I'll do a separate post with that photo shoot. It was a lot of fun!
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