Always do what you are afraid to do.—Waldo Emerson
There’s a Peanuts comic strip where Charlie Brown talks to Psychiatrist Lucy who tells him about different kinds of fears. She finally gets to Panophobia, the fear of everything and he says “That’s it!” What about a fear of photography? It’s real. Scopophobia, scoptophobia, or ophthalmophobia are anxiety disorders that are characterized by a fear of being seen or stared at by others, as in a photograph.
That why for clients that request it we offer pre-shoot consults with them to discuss any questions they might have. Consultations are held in neutral space, not our home studio/office. Instead they’re held at a nearby Starbucks. These informal meetings are typically 30 minutes or so long and I won’t even bring a camera. Instead I’ll have an iPad with some sample photographs and we’ll discuss what you’re interested in, what you like and especially what you don’t like. There’s no pressure to book a sitting, just a friendly chat over coffee and I’ll even buy.
The another change in how we approach intimate photography has to do with a client who “didn’t like the way her face looked.” What I offered her and now offer all potential clients, again at no cost, is a free 30-minute head shot session. You can wear your normal clothing but with makeup that’s more appropriate for going out for an evening. We’ll make some photographs and I’ll hand you a CD or flash drive with all of the photographs that we shoot.
The whole idea behind these changes is to remove any apprehension that you may have about having an intimate portrait made. We think that you will find that the entire process is really a lot of fun.
How I Made this Shot: Shooting available light portraits under low and mixed lighting conditions can be a challenge too. This featured image is a portrait of Amelia, a student chef, who was referred to me by another model I had worked with. Amelia was that model’s brother’s girlfriend! And just as referrals are a key part of a traditional portrait business getting referrals from models who you worked with before is one of the best, especially in these post-COVID time when the modeling business, like almost everything, has been badly scrambled.
This portrait was shot in the dining room of my former home with most of the light coming from a window in the door she’s standing next to. The camera used was Canon EOS 50D with a Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 lens. Exposure was 1/200 sec at f/2.8 and ISO 200 with a plus one-thirds stop of exposure compensation. The final photograph is a actually a composite of three different image files that were made in rapid succession from 11:04:19 to 11:04:46 AM and were assembled in Photoshop using layers. =
