Interestingness

There are times when you first work with a model that something clicks, whether it's a shared vision, or a concept, and then the finished image meets that expectation. I have come to recognize that "click" when after shooting I'm left feeling discouraged; I know that sounds counter intuitive, but I get a  feeling that I should've done something differently, that I didn't bring my "A" game and start doubting my abilities. When this happens, I usually put the camera away and not look at any images until the next morning.

That "click" happened with Anahy, Tonya, Torey, and Darnah. Okay, maybe not with Darnah, but definitely with the other models. Well, that same feeling happened when I photographed Lara last weekend. I felt that the images never really materialized into what I envisioned.

We decided to do some White Sheets images followed by One Light on Black and then some Twiggy type photos. That meant white, black and grey backgrounds. I also told Lara that she could bring back her humongous suitcase, basically her closet-on-wheels.

Once we selected the wardrobe, we began shooting at 4:00 PM and worked on the White Sheets for about two hours.  I used the 86" PLM behind my White Muslin and then used a strip box for the key light.  Usually I have the model on a bed, but this time I tried something different, I placed the bedding on the garage floor so I could shoot downward from a ladder.  I think that slight change in lighting configuration made our shoot take a little longer than usual.

We then moved on to a black background and a single light (43" Brolly) with a reflector.  Lara picked out some fun clothes to wear and we shot for about another hour and a half.  I know I overuse the term "fun" when speaking about working with models, but Lara is both energetic and relaxed when shooting.  At that point it was getting late and we originally wanted to do a "Twiggy" theme shoot.

So as Lara changed her make-up and hair, I removed the black backdrop and put up the grey seamless paper.  An acquaintance, referred to as Old Pro, told me how they used to shoot those 60's style images.  Basically a key light, my Beauty Dish and a huge softbox for fill, my 86" PLM, and that was basically it.

I went in to check on Lara and review some of the clothes for our 60's style shoot.  After a quick break, we shot for another hour and a half.  Holy crud, it was almost 10:00 PM.  Lara was great and worked right up until I called a wrap.  She neither complained, nor asked me to hurry up.  As Lara left to put "ALL" her clothes away,  I decided to review some of the images and got discouraged.  While walking Lara to her car, I began apologizing for not keeping my end up of the shoot, that I felt the images I captured were mediocre at best.  She said, "No worries, we'll shoot again in two weeks."

In the morning I downloaded the 400+ images and began reviewing them.  I was surprised to find some images that were a bit better than mediocre, so I did a quick edit on one, converted it to Black and White and posted it on FLICKR.  That same night, my iPad kept beeping every time I got an e-mail.  I woke-up and checked to see that several people had commented on, or favored this image. Then on e-mail said "Stunning! Congrats on Explore."  Seriously, EXPLORE!!!  I just posted the pic to get some comments and critiques.

In previous posts, I've mentioned that FLICKR uses an algorithm to determine Interestingness, which is based on views, favorites and comments from all over FLICKR land.  FLICKR estimates that 5,000 images are uploaded every hour, and they select 500 everyday to showcase in their EXPLORE category.  We hit position #149 out of the top 500, not bad because usually I add my image to Photo groups on FLICKR, but this one I only posted.  I messaged Lara, and she responded "Mediocre turned out Most Interesting!! ...FAR OUT...!!"  


So What Did I Learn?

• That's an easy one - Keep your thoughts as thoughts.  Even if you don't feel good about your images after the shoot, keep it to yourself.  Lara did a GREAT job and for me to admit anything less than being pleased with our session before really viewing the images was totally inconsiderate.

I've got a shoot coming up in a week, keeping my fingers crossed that I can execute, but more importantly I'm going to make sure that I keep a positive attitude throughout the entire process.

*** UPDATE *** 
Apparently the image with Lara jumping (above) also hit EXPLORE on the same day.  That's a first for me, two images on EXPLORE in one day.  With that good news, here's one more image from our shoot. 


This was part of our White Sheets, but decided I add both the actual image and an Outtake to show Lara's personality.

- Posted using BlogPress from my Illusive iPad