The Shoot That Started It All!! - Norwich Photographer
11 months ago, doesn’t seem that long ago, but this was the shoot that got me hooked
I’d been studying for the advanced diploma in photography by the Institute of Professional Photography and whilst its an awesome course, it does get a little boring, in as much as here are the settings, pick an inanimate object / family member and shoot, great, really helpful but does this prepare you for “real” world shooting. You’d expect given the sentence you’ve just read that the answer is no, but its actually yes, however, it doesn’t prepare you for that first customer experience (but what does!!)
So, back to the subject at hand, a colleague who had been putting in some serious work in the gym and was very proud of the results achieved asked me if I would be willing to do a photoshoot in their local gym of them.
I said yes……..panic!!!!!
You’ve got to start somewhere, right? right? From memory the brave members of the course that wanted to push themselves to business would have picked a portrait, probably at a push a family portrait but normally a single portrait (pet/human type). The wiser ones maybe a workshop where everything is a nice safe learning environment with some banger photos at the end of it for your portfolio.
So, i’ve just said yes to a physical fitness body confidence shoot in a gym with no natural light (i’ve never used flash/strobes as the course didn’t teach this)
Obviously at this point the internet became my best friend for research (still is). I’d always recommend going in with a plan and a plan b. The following steps helped me
Pre shoot communication - Outline the purpose/results required from the client (concept and goals)
Research the event/location (there may be things you want to do that just can’t happen in that space)
Storyboard - this is probably the most essential part, have a planned set of images from the internet/pinterest that will help guide you in this first ever shoot, it must easier with a point of reference that winging it
Study what the pro’s are doing, instagram/YouTube, full of essential resource that will virtually tell you the step by step guide to nailing your first shoot whether its gym, wedding etc etc (mine was Brett Seeley on YouTube for this shoot)
Communication on the day, spend a few minutes just talking through the plan with the client, show them some bits of the storyboard, definitely ask them their views on your plan and if there was anything else they wanted (chances are you’ve got it covered with the aforementioned steps)
Test a shot, set the camera/strobes and test, explain to the customer its a test shot, you don’t want to fire off a series of shots then notice exposure etc is off, for the sake of 5 seconds, do it
Verbal feedback, you may inside be bricking it yourself but your customer may be too. Words that provide positive feedback are key, it helps everyone relax, if you’re stuck, just say things like that’s great, cool, brilliant, that’s wonderful. The more relaxed everyone is, the better
This list could go on and on but is just some of the highlights that helped me through the day
After this shoot, I definitely found myself craving more knowledge, more photoshoots, more experience.
Would I do things differently if I had to start over again, no not really, sometimes you’ve just got to get up out of the comfort zone and go for it…….
