Photographing People

I am lucky to meet a lot of interesting people in a job that brings me a lot of satisfaction and enjoyment.

Through my free lance work with a large studio I come across a lot of young photographers, some with Degrees or those that are self taught wanting to make the jump from keen amateur to professional.

All interaction with people requires people skills, to produce the kind of work that accurately reflects the person in front of you rather than create a generic image/style needs you to study them.

Maybe for the duration of the shoot fall in love with the subject, at least try and understand them, this may sound strange but some shoots are very connected, it is a great honor to see into a person and get images that show their own unique personality, mood or capture the moment.

Like a good therapy session the best results will come out of the blue, some of my most satisfying have been in the first few shots, other times in the last few shots of the shoot or when I was pushed past the point I wanted to stop.. you will get times when you feel exhausted and creativity has left you...but for some reason you decide to push on. This happened to me just the other week, I got a cracking image that made the whole day worth my time and effort and the client loved the image.

Photographing people isn't always easy, if you research the subject or spend the time getting to know them as much as possible you stand a better chance of getting some good shots.

A few quick tips for better results.. recap
1) Preparation, research your subject
2) Pre-visualize get some ideas in your head but also be prepared to let them go
3) Abandon - if it doesn't come together, go to plan B or free style it,
4) Look at a lot of images, study the history of photography and the great shooters that went before
5) Emulate a good style of work
6) Make time - to do what you enjoy
7) Review your work from time to time, are you making time to try new ways of working?

My work goes in cycles, where changes happen in my work and I take a new creative direction.

Keep pushing yourself, if you don't you'll get stale for sure.

Whats is my kit bag

What’s in my kit bag really depends on the shoot, and how far away from base I am, how remote the location is.

At times the amount of equipment needed to do a job can be a bit of a headache; it’s not just what you need but also the backup systems you need just incase a piece of kit goes down.

Some situations you can work around, battery packs playing up, always carry a back up but some will kill the shoot, your day and worse if it goes wrong. A client of mine told me of one unfortunate photographer who leant out a helicopter to take an important image only to realise he hadnt fitted the lens correctly ... it fell off. The lens cost £4,500. How do you replace that in a conflict zone?

You can’t afford to get caught out in the middle of a shoot.

I have been the worlds worst for backups, taking sometimes too much equipment with me, something that my assistants have moaned about and my therapist is working on.

A day long location shoot can be exhausting, loading up, unloading, set up maybe tweaks, take down, load up and unload in the same day..... I feel exhausted thinking about it !!!

A list of equipment will give you an idea what a professional photographer needs, and my kit is by no means excessive.

I am a Canon shooter 2x (full frame) bodies
Lenses 70-200 2.8L, 16-35 2.8L, 24-105 4L, 50 1.4
Small strobe 3 x 580EX MK2
3 x Justin Clamps great invention for clamping small strobes pretty much anywhere.
Light meter although I don’t use it that often
Studio lighting 4 x 500w Bowens, 2 x 400w Bowens, 1 x 200w Bowens all run off mains supply or 2 x battery pack
1 x ST E2 Transmitter
1 x off camera cord (modified)
2 x battery pack & 2 x 8m leads
1 petrol generator 2.5kva
5 x pulsar radio transmitter
2 x portable booms max height probably about 9ft, and the boom arm extends about the same, flexible working but not for the novice or clumsy
3 x century stands 100"
2 x portable backdrop supports, hold 2.72 rolls
Various umbrella and strip soft box
On back lights I tend to run maxilite reflectors and barn doors x 2
Heaps of reflectors
2 x Lastolite skylite panel kits (1.1meter) 1.25 and .75 stop white scrims
heaps of extension leads

In addition to the above I have had an electronics geek make some custom kit which will be explained in another equipment post, at a later date.

That’s the basics there will be items omitted for sure; in addition you need a high power laptop and the latest Photoshop software for post production.

Daunting isn't it, More to come >>>

First Post

Welcome to the first Blog post for Jason Harry a professional photographer based in England.

This Blog is to replace the news feature on my website at www.jasonharry.com and will be the place I post everything that is going on ... as it happens. This I feel is the right move because it will allow the postings to be more detailed, its easy to do on the move while continuing to be personal and informative.

2010 is going to be an exciting year, as the year unfolds the posts will follow.

Thanks for dropping by ... more to come >>>