this post will be about a friend, a friend that asked me to take photos of her, despite knowing that i basically never take photos of anyone. 'i can be your guinea pig', she said, 'but i have the feeling you're going to do a great job.' me, as the usual skeptic in such situations, tried to push through my self-criticism and overcome my fear of not giving the photographed person the shining light they deserve. it is hard to capture the essence of people, especially when they are friends and you want them to be happy with the outcome. you don't want them to look unnatural or uncomfortable, you simply want to show their best side.
the reason why i never showed too much interest in taking photos of people is explained quickly: i always had the feeling i couldn't do them justice, that i don't have what it takes to make people look great on photos, natural & comfortable in their skin. another reason: photographing humans needs a lot of creativity and technical know-how ( and also a lot of intuition and feeling for a good picture ). it's not enough to just shoot away and hope for the best. it's not enough to shout out directions and try all the generic poses that you can remember from looking at fashion photography. there has to be a real connection to create something worthwhile that people are happy with.
and i always thought that maybe i am not someone who can offer this.
if taking photos of people should be a focus of mine, i would want them to feel good around me, want them to feel like themselves, want them to behave like they usually do. a camera is always a device that's observing, it's like a third party standing in a corner and watching you. people need to be comfortable with photographs of them being taken, otherwise it will always feel like you spied on them. and it's an incredibly thin line to walk. you also never know if you meet their taste with your photos. i feel like being a photographer of human beings takes a lot of guts and a lot of openness, you have to have some kind of vision at least.
for this first shoot, i just tried to keep it low-key and relaxed. i don't like putting pressure on people ( AT ALL ) and my only motto was: act however you want, be yourself, find positions you are comfortable with.
and then we started working. it was fun, not at all like hard work. we laughed about awkward positions, laughed some more about bees hiding in bushes trying to attack, enjoyed the beautiful april sun, that was so full of power & so bright it helped create very vibrant spring pictures. and i think i did a good job with these. i am still very proud of them, because for someone who shies away from taking pictures of people dear to my heart, these turned out pretty lovely. and maybe, yes, maybe, this time i can be allowed to feel an emotion of being proud of myself, right? it's something unheard of, something i would normally never grant myself, but here i am and i am comfortable with being content with something i created intentionally and with focus.
and i again would like to extent a big thanks to steffi, the woman i took these photos of. thanks for giving me the chance to take beautiful portraits of you and thanks for being my guinea pig ❤ i still hope you like these pictures as much as i do and whenever i look at these it will remind me of the great time we had during the time we captured them :)
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