Working with fresh faces

Miss Lizzz #03, 2008

Miss Lizzz #04, 2008

I think one of the cool things about working with new people is you never know what you are going to get. Some might consider this a crap shoot. But I disagree. I really think that having someone who is incredibly enthusiastic can make up for experience with a bit of instruction and patience. With experience can occasionally come bad habits, or habits that are perhaps not conducive to the type of pictures I might be looking for in a shoot.

Miss Lizzz, pictured here, is an example of the former. I met her In April through Jaclyn - another of my occasional models and one of my good friends. Miss Lizzz (yes there are 3 z's) had only worked with one other photographer and that had been a studio session a couple of days before our shoot.

She is perhaps the most animated and versatile model I have encountered in such a long time. From the initial meet up to discuss photos, through the time we shot together the first time (and a second shoot still in post), I knew I had found a fantastic subject. Very expressive and playful. Full of on-the-fly ideas. And very little post production needed at all.

We shot for maybe 90 minutes or so at an outdoor location here in London, and I had many more useful photos than I usually get from people the first time out. As most photographers know, the first time working with a someone who is interested in modelling, but has little experience, can occasionally be little more than a test shoot. I always go in with no real expectations, and sometimes leave with little to no useful photos to pass on that I personally would use in my portfolio or project. Having said that, I have been really lucky in most cases when working with new people like Miss Lizzz. Much more than some other photographers it seems. I can't say what that is attributed to, but credit does go towards the models.

Portrait and Bricks, 2008

The moral of the story? If you are new, and feel you won't measure up to someone else because of your relative lack ofexperience, don't let that get you down. Step up, ask photographers if they would shoot you, some might say no, some might say yes, and some might make some killer shots with you.

Mike


Mike Wood Photography