For this week’s FAQ Friday entry I asked my associate photographer, Chris to take the keyboard to answer this week’s question. He wrote a lot so, I won’t cramp his style… Take it Chris!
Hang on a sec…I have to adjust a few things here. It’s my first time writing on this blog and Jaymie left empty bags of snacks (Pork rinds are awesome! -J) are all over the place here….it’s a mess…Ok where was I? Ah yes, FAQ Friday. As I was saying, Jaymie asked me to “Guest-Write” on his blog this time so I’ll do my best not to embarrass him or tarnish his company image. 
Anyway, Melanie (future client extraordinaire) writes “What can be done to make our hot air balloon shoot stunning, vivid and completely out of the box of normal balloon shoots?”
I have to say, just having engagement pictures involving a Hot Air Balloon is pretty darn stunning right there, but I’d like to answer the question in a more general manner that applies to all types of shoots.
The number one biggest factor in getting awesome shots is YOU. Yes YOU…the client. It all comes down to you! You have to be yourself. You have to forget the camera exists. You have to forget the poses that you learned at prom. You have to have confidence in yourself, know that you’re beautiful and just have fun. With cell phone cameras so popular nowadays, it seems like we have cameras in our faces 24/7 and this has trained us to pay attention to them. What’s the first thing you do when someone points a camera at you? I’m willing to bet you stop whatever you were doing, square your body with the camera, put on a cheesy smile and wait for the shutter sound. I hate to tell you but the best looking models in the world don’t look good like that. That’s how you take a SNAPSHOT, not a PHOTOGRAPH. When you look at a photograph, you should see a story. You should say “look at the love they have for one another” or “look at how gentle he is with her” or “look at how she looks at him like he’s her everything”. Do you really think you can communicate that kind of emotion by turning toward the camera and smiling like you’re a 16 year old at the DMV? No way! So the bottom line is, focus on your partner, the person you’ve chosen to spend you life with. Be yourselves and let us capture that. Let us take photographs that tell others the story of you two…what you’re all about.
Not only do you need to be yourself, you need to be TRUE TO YOURSELVES. Your photographs are about YOU-your life, your love, your story. If all of your friends are taking engagement photos that look like a scene from a Chris Isaak music video, but you and your significant other are more the snuggle up under a blanket kind and watch a movie kind of couple…don’t ask us to shoot you guys rolling around on the beach kissing. Forget about what everyone else is doing…do something that speaks to you.
Depth and creativity! This is something that we’d love to help you with but you should think about it too. Too many couples just want to show their love by getting some shots of them hugging, snuggling, kissing, holding hands and staring at each other lovingly. They put on nice clothes, the guy sometimes even combs his hair and takes his NFL jersey off and they suggest a nearby park for their shots. Why the park? Do you guys ever go to this park? No? Do you hate the outdoors? Then why did you want to shoot at a park? The thing that I love about photography is that when you look at a picture it answers a lot of questions…What do they look like? What were they wearing? Where were they? What was their relationship like? But good photographs have some mystery to them as well. They have depth and non-literal elements! Good photographs ASK as many questions as they answer and THAT’S what makes them interesting and thought provoking. What on earth am I talking about…Let’s say you’re the type of couple that loves the outdoors, you love adventure and you love to overcome challenges and obstacles with each other. A creative way to show all of that would be to hike up to the top of a mountain like Sleeping Giant State Park in Hamden CT and let us shoot your adventure together. We’ll show you at the base of the mountain very small in the frame…making it look like the problems are insurmountable…but wait…you’re holding hands. You’re in this together and you’ll get through it. Next we’ll show you battling your way to the top, helping each other every step of the way like an efficient team. It’s not easy, you’re sweating, you’re dirty but you’re getting through it (and Jaymie’s probably winded) (har…har…-J). Finally we’ll show you at the top, joyous after having overcome your obstacle (And Chris will be snapping a photo of me suckin on my inhaler. -J). You’re stronger than ever before and you helped each other through it. We’ll light you in a special way that can make the clouds look dark an ominous while you’re bright and vivid like warriors celebrating a victory. There’s trumpets blaring, drums of war beating furiously…..sorry I got carried away but you get my point. That sounds better than going to a park and hugging right? I’m not trying to knock simple shoots at all. For some people, that would fit them perfectly and if that’s you, that’s what you should do. But I am trying to make the point that you should come up with something fun and exciting and deeper that shows off who you are. Have fun with it! Pick a character or a role that fits who you are on the inside. Maybe you’re heroic and strong-willed and you’ve always wanted to be a police officer but it’s just not a career that makes sense at this point in your life. Let’s dress you up like a police officer! Maybe you’re shy on the outside but on the inside you’ve always loved cars and wanted to be a racecar driver as a young girl but people told you no. Let’s get you in a racing suit and on a racetrack for the photoshoot!
Ok now I’ll let your creative brain take a break for a minute while we talk about something a little more literal….time. It takes time for you to warm up to each other. It takes time for you to warm up to us-circling around you with a giant camera. It takes time for us to get setup. It takes time for us to warm up our creativity. Picture this, you’ve finally gotten used to the cameras and you’re just too focused on your partner to care about anything else. Our lighting is setup and when we’ve got our creative juices flowing. The magic is just about to happen when….”TIME’S UP! Sorry, we don’t have any more time for pictures. We have to go.” That’s happened to us more times than I’d like to admit. Often, clients just don’t allocate enough time. Once everyone’s in the groove, that’s when the magic happens. That’s when one shot after another is just incredible…just building the story deeper and deeper. Time for a photographer is like pages for an author. Imagine telling Steven King “Write a great story…make my spine tingle…oh and you only have 25 pages.” Make sure you’re giving us enough time to work with. This applies more to the wedding day than a dedicated shoot like an engagement shoot but the more time we have, the better your shots will be. It also needs to be quality time. This means free of distractions, free of interruptions.
I hope some of my rant makes sense-at least enough to get some useful information out of it!
-Chris
Don’t forget, to submit all questions for FAQ Friday to info@jcastrophotography.com! Have a great weekend everyone! -J
