The Back Story
The facing-page portrait was created while presenting a program; I had not met these people until they came on stage. Fortunately, I was able to build on the connection between the mother and her daughters.
When I learn someone’s story at Walden’s Photography, I learn something very touching and I am able to show their relationship in that light. However, as this portrait shows, even when I do not know the subjects’ story, I can still create a beautiful image—but the image is beautiful for different reasons.
I feel that this is a beautiful portrait because it is well posed, with beautiful expressions and beautiful, well lit subjects. However, I do not know if it tells anybody’s story. This portrait tells me nothing of their relationship other than it is a mom with her two daughters; there is nothing deeper to the image.
Design and Planning
I am a firm believer in design and planning appointments before a session to discuss clothing and jewelry and to allow me to gain insight into the subjects’ personalities. It also gives us the opportunity to discuss the enemies of creativity and what it takes to create a great image. The purpose of a design appointment is to stack the deck in my favor. This, in turn, stacks the deck in my client’s favor. Our clients choose us because they like what we do. By following our guidelines, we accomplish our goal, which is for them to purchase beautiful portraits.
A Posing Demonstration
A posing demonstration in front of a crowd is difficult because the people on stage often do not know each other. The small children on the stage are looking at the two-hundred people in the audience. As a result, we never connect at that high level. In this case, the other aspect of difficulty was that the subjects on stage did not choose us; they were there as models. Sessions in the studio lend themselves to spontaneity; when posing people on stage, the approach must be more classic, predictable, and calculated.
Additional images from the same session.
That said, I am just as proud of this image as I am of many of my studio relationship portraits. I love this pose—and a pose is simply a template that you morph into something special.