Ideally, sessions are never rushed, lasting anywhere from one to two hours. Portrait photography is a collaborative effort that reveals the interaction between the photographer and the subject. We are not merely making an image of a person, we are making an image that captures something of the unique relationship that exists between the photographer and the subject at a specific point in time. The quality of the images you get from your session often has a lot to do with how much you put into it. For that reason, I do everything I can to make you feel comfortable in front of the camera.
The studio session will include a short consultation, during which we will look at other images and discuss your goals for the session. Before your shoot begins, I sit down with you for about fifteen to twenty minutes to look at some other images so I can get a feel for what you like.
We may decide to work with either a film or digital camera, depending on how you want to have your images presented and how soon you want or need the images back. If we decide to use film, we will still start shooting with a digital camera to verify lighting choices and to help us communicate to one another what we are looking for in our images. Once we feel we are close to our goal, we will switch to the film camera and shoot a few more images, before switching back to digital to find the next composition.
Soon after the photo session, we will meet again to examine the proofs. The proofs are raw images right out of the camera. It's important to look at the proofs together with the photographer. The final printed images may look very different than the proofs. It has been said that the raw image is like the score of a piece of music, and the final print is the performance. There are many choices I can make in printing the image to emphasize and de-emphasize different parts of the image. And sometimes, what looks like a reasonable image in the proof will fail to print well. It is best to have the experienced eye of the photographer around when choosing images.
Don't worry too much about your clothes. Bring things that you like. Usually solid colors work best. I will have a variety of flowy fabrics to drape over you. Jewelry, with few exceptions, usually does not add much to an image. The most important thing is not to wear anything that will leave lines on your body, such as stockings or an elastic waistband.
Schedule your shoot for a time between six to ten weeks before your due date but I can be as flexible as you. You want to be as rested as you can be for your session. Try not to schedule any other activities before your shoot. Also, I recommend not scheduling anything soon after the session so we will not feel rushed. Also you will likely be somewhat tired after the session. The creative process takes quite a bit of energy. Call and we will discuss the best time for you.