Module No: ARD504 - Creative Futures 2 - Outside client work

Family portraits

Recently I was asked by a close family friend Karen Garbett to take portrait shots of her with her five children.  This might sound an easy task but the children cover not only a wide age range but also quite a height difference too.  This set me an initial challenge as I didn't want to just do the typical all sat down pose, part of what the family jokes about is the difference in heights and I wanted to reflect this in a photograph.

When anyone says family portraits to me, I always have this picture of a family dressed in their Sunday best, in a very formal setup with fixed smiles on their faces.  I wanted these family portraits to break that traditional mould, my aim for these photographs was for the subjects to appear relaxed and happy, to endeavour to capture their personalities whether it was serious, thoughtful or cheeky.  I think I managed to achieve my aim, and I'm glad to say the family are happy with the results too.


I also wanted the opportunity to show the unique relationships between different members of the family, be it mother & daughter, mother & grandsons, siblings or boyfriend & girlfriend.  Once again, I endeavoured to capture their personalities, as well as the emotions/feelings within the relationship.

Module No: ARD504 – Creative Futures 2 - Outside Client Work

Ready for Prom


Recently I was asked by a family friend Jane Langford to take portrait shots of her daughter Hannah.  Hannah was due to attend her school prom, and her mum wanted me to take the photos as it was one of the few times her daughter would be all dressed up.  Due to timing constraints the photography shoot was taken at Langford family home.
 

With the bright sunny day we were fortunate to have, I used it to my advantage with having Hannah stood in the shadow of the house, whilst the sunlight created a bright backdrop to emphasize Hannah's dress.  Ensuring the focus was on Hannah the backdrop also became slightly blurry giving the photographs great contrast.

I also took a couple of photographs of Hannah inside, Although Hannah's dress was a simple plain design it did have an elaborate panel down her back, which set me the challenge of capturing this whilst still capturing Hannah's face, but I think I managed to achieve it.

Although a part of me would have liked the opportunity to work with Hannah in her prom dress in a photography studio, I felt I made the best use of the facilities available at Hannah's house.  I think this challenge has improved my photographers' eye for seeing the potential of location shots, as well as my versatility of working in restricted areas.

 
Hannah also requested that she would like an old fashioned style photograph, after questioning Hannah I discovered she meant a sepia version, this photography I think works well as even in sepia it hints at the colour of the lipstick.