Photographers often talk about vision when describing their work, ideas and images, but what does that really mean? For me, vision is about how I see the world, combined with my imagination. I see photos everywhere, whether I have my camera with me or not. I notice light and color and shapes, patterns and lines everywhere I go. Vision is a continual area of growth, I welcome new ideas, concepts and techniques along the way. The challenge is translating that vision to the camera, but that's also part of the joy.
One of my recent goals is to photograph more people. I do love making portraits, and have been educating myself about lighting, posing and props. I am gaining more confidence in this type of work, and it's so rewarding when the clients rave about the photos they receive.
A few weeks ago, I saw a child's dress advertised, and immediately, I envisioned that dress on my two little granddaughters, ages one and nearly three. I could just see soft, high key type photos of the girls in the dresses, complete with crowns of flowers. I ordered the dresses, and did some web searches on making flower crowns, which turned out to be a very simple process. I bought some green wired jute, a bunch of silk flowers and a hot glue gun and made 3 crowns in about an hour. All you need to do is to measure your subject's head, and cut 3 pieces of the jute to that length plus a couple of extra inches for fastening the ends together. I braided the pieces together and twisted the ends to form a circle. I removed the flowers from their stems and glued them around the jute circle. So quick and easy!
The dresses arrived, the crowns were finished, so it was time to set up for the shoot. I set up my backdrop stand and attached a large piece of mauve colored fabric for the background. Natural lighting was from two large glass doors in my studio, and I had my reflectors ready to add more if needed. I bought real flowers as an extra prop too.
I had a ball photographing the girls, and was so pleased to create the images I envisioned. The photos were just what I had in mind, they matched my vision perfectly. I loved the process, and these photos are also a legacy to my family.
Here's a short video with a few of my favorites from the shoot:
Haylie and Olivia
This morning I found more dresses for a future shoot with the girls, this time my vision involves a beach, warmth and sand. Stay tuned!
Happy Shooting!
Kathleen
