What I Learned on My First Photo Shoot
So You Don’t Have To
My first photoshoot with, you know, actual people, was thirteen years ago. I had been shooting digitally for about three years, mostly stock images. A woman that was looking for local photographers in Atlanta found me through one agency. She was planning an interesting concept for the makeup line she worked for at a local cosmetic store.
She had lined up six models and six makeup artists. She was looking for six photographers. We would all arrive very early, hours before the mall opened. There would be six sets of three people working together. She was looking for wild and exotic use of her makeup and wanted the photographers to capture the process.
Once they finished the makeup, each photographer was free to take the model anywhere in the store, mall, or outdoors for a private session. After that, as time allowed, we could mix it up a bit. The company got copies of all images with the rights to use them in their marketing. The models got copies of the images to use in their portfolios. And the photographers retained all rights to the images to use within the limits of the signed model releases.
Having never shot models before, or any people outside the immediate family, I was a bit nervous. But it was a marvelous experience and I came away with some amazing images I…
