Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time
My name is Nina and I am a Surrey-based photographer and photography trainer. I am often asked how I find great locations for my outdoor shoots so I thought I would create a blog which gives some guidance on how I find my locations.
Location choice is very important but I also want to make clear that you do not need to pay for grand locations – you can absolutely shoot at places close to your home. Here are my top tips for how to find, and get the best from a new outdoor location:
Way back in January, before Covid-19 was part of our lives, (remember that? It was before we knew that furlough was a real word, before we knew what WFH stood for, and before we put anti-bac on everything), I wrote a little blog about what it’s actually like to be a photographer. If you haven’t read it, you can find it here. Lockdown has given me a fair bit of time to think (but surprisingly little time to do – has anyone else found that?!) and following on from that blog, I’ve realised a few things about what takes a family photographer to the next level. They’re things I try and practice myself, or things I admire about photographers that are way further down the road than I am.
Amidst the coronavirus lockdowns and restrictions, photographers are finding alternative ways for taking photos. One of them includes taking family photos on their front porches while maintain a necessary distance. However, Professional Photographers of Canada (PPOC) urges people to stop doing it, noting that the virus can only move if they move.
A few weeks ago, I was in town and I heard a lady say to her friend “That photo you posted of Sebastian was soooooo beautiful. While you’re on maternity leave, you should totally start doing photography as a business…”. Before I write anything else, I just want to say that this is exactly the kind of thing that my friends would tell me a few years back. And it’s lovely when your friends encourage you to pursue your passion and turn it into a business. But in my experience, starting any kind of business isn’t something that you should decide to do on a whim!
Being a professional photographer certainly requires some skills beyond photography. But this Craigslist ad for a family photographer certainly adds another layer to it. Other than photographing for social media, editing photos and probably posting them too, this family also looks for someone to be a “Mother’s Helper.”
Heather Whitten, a photographer and a mom, recently shared a photo of her husband taking care of their sick son. She captured the dad taking care of the boy in the shower. The photo caused millions of positive reactions all over the internet, but a single negative one was enough to send her to court. A single individual sent a complaint to local authorities in Arizona, resulting in Heather and her husband being investigated for neglect.
“Like father like son”, so they say. Sons inherit a lot from their fathers indeed – but is it possible that they also inherit love and talent for photography? According to the example of Eriberto and Estevan Oriol, it is possible to pass the talent from father to son. An iconic photographer can influence his son to become iconic himself. But, in this case, this influence even goes both ways.
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