Brace yourself... this is a long one:
Let me start by saying that I will happily shoot either, or both, of these girls again. They're both beautiful, and easy to work with, yada, yada, yada—but boy, let me tell you: I would love to have a do-over of this day!
We were originally scheduled to shoot on a Thursday, and the shoot got bumped until the following weekend; that's fine, rescheduling happens. We were going to be shooting both girls in Sarah's apartment, so I was especially willing to be flexible in this case. (Natalie lives in Arlington, and Sarah is in Dallas, so I was very happy to have a fairly close location to shoot them both.)
Originally we were going to start around 1:00 and shoot for 3-4 hours (because there were two girls, and my shoots generally run 1 1/2 - 2 hours), but they asked if we could start around noon and try to end by 2:00. Well, that was cutting it too close to my 2 yr old's naptime, and this was a TF shoot, so I said I'd be there as close to 12:30 as I could, but I couldn't promise any sooner. They were fine with that.
I confirmed the new shoot date and time a few days before the shoot. The morning of, Natalie emailed me to confirm that we were still on. Half an hour later, she emailed again, saying, "if it's closer to one, that will be ok... wink wink." Works out for me, because of nap time and all, so I don't mind that they're running a bit behind. I told her I would call when I left the house, so they'd know more exactly when to expect me.
I called when I left the house, around 12:40, and got Natalie's voicemail: I left a message saying, "I'm on my way! See you in about 25 minutes!" I assumed they were getting ready, and had loud music on or something, so I didn't really think anything of it.
Rather than calling me back, she sent me an email—which there was no way for me to read, since I was, as she knew, driving to Dallas at the time—asking me if it would be a problem for us to start around 2:00, instead.
Since I obviously didn't get her email, I continued driving to the apartment. When I got there, I called both girls, getting no answer, and finally texted Natalie to find out which apartment to go to.
She replied with an apology, telling me it was probably going to be another 30-40 minutes. Apparently, they had run out of gas in Arlington, and were waiting for roadside assistance to come help.
When they arrived, an hour later, neither girl was ready. It took almost 45 minutes for them to do hair and makeup, so we didn't actually start shooting until almost 3:00.
Also, Natalie wasn't able to get a sitter, so her five-yr-old son was there as well. (To be fair, she DID warn me, a few days in advance, that she might not be able to find a sitter; I told her Sarah could watch him after I was finished with her, and figured that would be okay. However, instead of shooting them back-to-back, as planned, I ended up alternating them to save time. It was rushed, and not fun.)
I did not start this shoot in a good frame of mind, and I know that colored my vision, and kept me from shooting as well as I could have.
As long as I'm being honest here, I have to say that if/when I shoot either of them again, I'll either do their makeup myself, or make sure we have a makeup artist.
We finally wrapped things up around 5:00, I think, and I got home just in time to help with dinner. I didn't get nearly as many good shots as I wanted—again, probably mostly because I wasn't in the right frame of mind—but I got a few that, for me, made it worth all the hassle.
The pluses:
- They had plenty of outfits to choose from: an entire laundry basket filled with pretty lingerie.
- there was lots of gorgeous light coming in the big windows in the living room
- LOVED the red couch
- both girls were friendly, and fairly peppy; they seemed to be enjoying themselves, which always helps.
- Natalie's son occupied himself, in another room, with a handheld video game (and Sarah's dogs, who were in a crate)
- Both girls were beautiful, and posed nicely; they both took direction well.
My faves:
Final Note:
I would NOT shoot these two together again. In fact, I don't think I want to shoot two people together again, period, unless it's a shoot where they're posing together.
A little explanation: I've worked with Natalie before, and I was very surprised at how insecure she seemed on the day of this shoot. Turns out that she has decided to get her nose 'fixed,' and that, coupled with having her friend there (who she obviously feels is prettier than she is), made her very unsure of herself. She still managed to pose well, and I got some good shots, but I KNOW I would have done better with her on her own, because I've done it already.
Also, I discovered that it's harder for me to connect with the model when I'm having to switch my focus away from her to try to connect with someone else, and then try to switch it back again. That's actually very consistent with my personality, so it shouldn't have surprised me as much as it did.
Lesson learned....
View all user comments
To write a comment please register or login.
 | February 06, 2010 Comment by Carole Hayes Blog Comment |
Hi Jon!
Thanks for checking them out!
Yes, that pic is different from the others because I ran an action on it that changed the tone. It isn't really different enough from the original, I think, so I probably should either have uploaded the regular version of that one, or uploaded some of my other edits for some of the other pics.... :D
 | February 06, 2010 Comment by Jon Gilchrist Blog Comment |
I just saw your post of this session on Facebook and I had a couple observations. First, the third row, second picture from the left looks like the color balance is different. Her bra isn't the same pink as in the other shots. I don't say this as a criticism, rather I looked at it and the other pictures and couldn't see any obvious difference in lighting that would have caused this and it made me go "Hmmm, wonder why that is...".
Second is about Natalie's assessment of her looks relative to those of Sarah. I would probably agree with her assessment, but only because I can see the two of them together. If I shot them separately I doubt I would have the same conclusion because both are very attractive women. So I agree that shooting them together, or any two women together, would not be a good idea. I'll file this away for future reference.
| February 02, 2010 Comment by Carole Hayes Blog Comment |
Glad it might help someone else! That's why I'm posting these.... :D
 | February 01, 2010 Comment by Weigold Photography Blog Comment |
Good stuff Carol, thanks for sharing. While I haven't found myself in this situation yet, I suspect that it's only a matter of time. Reading your summary gives me a number things to consider (like the one being perhaps intimidated by the appearance of the other) if and when the possibility of such a shoot arises. Thanks again!
| February 01, 2010 Comment by Carole Hayes Blog Comment |
Although, as it turns out, the blog post didn't show the whole image! It's here, if you want to see it in the proper proportions: http://hisandherscreative.smugmug.com/Boudoir/Sarah/DSC8544/774956978_Pb2d3-L.jpg
