On 4/27/2012 7:15 AM, Bruce Walker wrote:
On Thu, Apr 26, 2012 at 9:12 PM, Walt Gilbert<[email protected]> wrote:
On 4/26/2012 7:23 PM, Bruce Walker wrote:
Practicing my retouching. Getting quicker now ...
http://www.flickr.com/bruce_m_walker/7116760695/lightbox/
K20D, DA* 50-135/2.8 @ 50mm, f/8, 125th, ISO 100
Two Elinchrom BX500 RI strobes with 24” softboxes
Model: Katelin Popiel
--
-bmw
Rawrrrr indeed!
Great shot, Bruce!
I know a young lady who's the spitting image of that model, and I've been
pestering her to let me take photos of her for about a year now. She's only
19 and gets hit on a lot by older men, so I figure that's the biggest
obstacle I have to overcome aside from the fact that I suspect she doesn't
really know how serious a pursuit photography is for me.
Maybe in a couple of years.
-- Walt
Thank you!
Walt, my advice fwiw: don't expend energy trying to persuade reluctant
folks to sit for you. Once you discover that there are people who will
crawl over broken glass to have you photograph them, you'll forget all
about the reticent ones.
Even if you manage to sweet talk or bribe a reluctant or shy person
into posing, unless you are lucky (or very skilled) their discomfort,
even mild, will show in the pictures you get.
Put the word out through your family and friends that you're looking
for willing portraiture subjects, and that you'll give them shots in
return. Tell them to ask their friends and family. Mention that you
need help and practice -- people like to help.
Walt, what city are you in? I can do a quick search on Model Mayhem for you.
Once you have a bit of a portfolio, show that to people. You'll get
more positive responses once you can actually show folks what you can
do.
--
-bmw
Thanks, Bruce -- for the advice and the offer to help out in finding models.
I'm in a bit of a sticky situation in that regard, living in a town of
about 350 people, and the biggest town within reasonable driving
distance being about 35,000 (Paducah, Kentucky). Though, despite the
lack of a big population center, I don't really have that much trouble
finding people to pose for me. In fact, I constantly have people asking
me if I'll take pictures of their daughters/sons/grandkids, etc. The
biggest challenge is getting people to follow up after they ask me. I've
come to the conclusion that, for a lot of people, when they find out
you're a photographer, they just like to say things like that as a means
of small-talk.
Normally, when someone asks me to do something like that, I stipulate
that I'm not by any means a pro photographer with a studio and lighting
and backdrops. At that point, they say, "Oh, I don't care about that!
I'm sure you'd do a great job!" Then, they never bother contacting me
about it.
Which is really OK with me, to be honest. Whenever I try to talk someone
into posing for me (like the young lady I mentioned), I'm looking to
take very casual portraits. I manage to get decent results whenever I do
it completely impromptu -- even when they're shy or reluctant. I just
try to catch them in unguarded moments. (I'm not quite sure I'd be all
that comfortable in a formal "sitting" situation, myself.)
I guess my approach could be best described as getting someone to simply
be somewhere (or tell me where they're going to be), let them just do
what they do and be who they are, and tell them to just try to ignore me
-- or at least pretend I'm not there. That's why I like to shoot at
gatherings and events. I just love capturing candid moments, and I'm
pretty good at putting people at ease once I've had a chance to mingle
and blend in.
-- Walt
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