Busy, busy, busy

I've not posted for a while but that doesn't mean I haven't been busy!


Actually I have taken a few weeks off from my uni course to concentrate of my photography business.  At the beginning of October I posted about my studio lesson, this is something I want to do more of and learn enough to be more comfortable in the studio as another option to try and get a bit more work.

Couple of weeks after my lesson I sent an email round to a dozen of so of my collegues at work, offering them studio portraits for the cost of the studio hire, explaining that that as well as needing more practise I also needed a range of photographs to build up my portfolio.  Most of them know that I do have my own photography business and that I am doing this course.  There was a really good response, enough to book two days of studio time in fact.

For several evenings I spent my time looking through photographs taken by the studio owners, Unique Capture, but also looking through flickr to get ideas for poses that I might want to try.  I have done portraits before but always on location in local parks etc so some of the poses from those could be used in the studio but because the light and conditions can be controlled it also means there are more options.

My first day in the studio with customers was on the 13th November, I had a young couple with a 7 month old daughter come in first, the little girl was very well behaved and very smiley which made my job lots easier.  My second clients were a large family, a couple with their two children, both their parents plus a brother and niece - it got a bit busy in the studio but got lots of different combinations including one big family shot and individuals of the children.  This was followed up by someone I used to work with a few years ago, his wife and son, in fact I first met his wife while she was pregnant and now their son is almost 8 - where has all the time gone?  Slight change of  pace for my final booking Ihad half the members of the ENL1 ice hockey team I do work for come down for some promo photographs to be taken which was a lot of fun.  It meant I got to try out some different lighting techinques and use three different areas in the studio.  Before the ice hockey shoot I spent quite a bit of time on the internet looking at promo photographs used by NHL teams and the guys were good sports letting me try some of them out.  Everyone seemed to enjoy their sessions and the studio owner remarked that there had been a lot of laughter which was a good thing as it meant they were having fun.

Tomorrow I'll post some of the results of my first studio session here and I must say a special thank you to my colleage Lynn who volunteered to come down and manage the reception for me, she did a great job and it meant I didn't have to worry about my next customers turning up while I was still working in the studio.