Sunday, 1/25/09
This past Sunday was my scheduled shoot with my friend (and fabulous director of my old chorus The Women of Note) Holly, and though I'd thought to do some indoor studio work as well as going outdoors, I decided to stick with outdoors. I'd asked her to bring along something that was meaningful for her, and she did this in spades, making things easy for me.
We set up in a tiny fragment of a field next to our Wellington Mall, and I chose to use my 85mm 1.8 lens, known to be one of the best portrait lenses around, but one I've not had a chance to use as much as I would like to have done because it's a fixed focal length. Inspired by the work I've seen others do with it, I shot mostly wide open in RAW. Because it's been way too long since I've done this, I felt quite rusty and even awkward. The rusty part I understand, but the awkward always puzzles me a bit. I'm a people lover, and yet when I have to direct them photographically I get a knot in the pit of my stomach that interferes with both my techical as well as my creative self. This keeps me from doing my best, from producing work I'm completely happy with. Or is this even possible?
Don't misunderstand me. We had a GREAT time. Holly was fun and totally cooperative, and it was great to have time to catch up with her a bit. And I got some images I was very happy with (hopefully she will feel the same way). It's just that I would like to get to the point where I'm truly in the moment and firing on all cylinders, thinking of all those little technical things, thinking composition, waiting for the right moment, and capturing it.
Guess that will come if I'm able to continue to have subjects to shoot...
