Written By Ron Layne

I realised then, that maybe she could be more comfortable after too many failed attempts by the novice and Mike got a prop for her to sit on and gave her a chance to rest and sit.

I then tried to “re-connect” with the subject, and engage in conversation to get the model to relax. One of those tips I remember hearing on a video I watched.

While still fiddling with settings and trying to figure out what was happening, talking to Markley (with the same model camera). I missed the answer Glory gave to my question and re-connect attempt. Mike noticed that too, my attention was diverted and highlighted I had not even heard Glory’s answer to a question. Perhaps that was a bridge point to keep the focus between the photographer and the sitter established. He actually knows what he is doing.
Given my obvious stage fright and the brain fades occurring. He let me take a few photos with his own camera and my brain settled. Then others had a go and I was then able to settle my own head further. I sat again by myself and reviewed my settings; got out my on-camera speed light and I took a few photos of the sitter, most candidly as I tried to figure out how or why people do this portraiture thing. In the background of the min, questions; like what was I trying to capture? What is emotive? What are you getting from the sitter? What are the others doing? Who’s doing things differently? What is in the background? Why the hell am I having so much drama with my camera? So many things racing through the mind!

Taking a few candid photos helped, I find now, that I am reflecting on the images, that I am feeling some small level of confidence in myself and my ability to use the camera returning. Taking photos of people without them knowing is common in another genre, street photography. I approach Glory and Mike having been able to show that I can use my camera with my own captures and get the remote trigger for the soft box back to try to shoot a couple of times more.

I also realise now as I am writing, I was trying to capture the initial enthusiasm I saw at the beginning of the experience. It was the enthusiasm that Glory emanated and that would be impossible. Mike again let me know that all pictures can’t be “smiley smiley”. Glory was able to give me a small smile when I asked and I think that was one of the images I was able to get a good capture from. I showed the back of the camera to Mike. He nodded and instantly realised that the natural light had fallen off compared to the soft-box light. In an instant, he grabbed another flash (another thingy I know nothing about) and we tried a few times to get it to light to hit Glory in the right place to get an expression from both sides of her face. Two flashes simultaneously, more complexity. But having the second light a low window angle helped and I think I got a good capture here as well. Photos between Mike, Glory and me for a short while happened. It felt better to be able to get the camera to snap a photo when I pressed the trigger. It almost started to be; be normal like when I wanted an exposure of a scene within the realms of what I consider normal and the camera was behaving normally too.

Then, as the time was nearly up, I happily let others have their own time capturing something from that experience. I, however, was still not sure what emotion I was trying to capture beyond that initial enthusiasm. I took a few more candid photos and I can comfortably say now having looked over the images I caught. I see differences in Glory’s emotiveness over the session. Maybe it is because I have a few images to look over. Amongst them, I have some I would not share, some that would not see the light of day, because of technical mistakes. I have some that don’t capture strong emotion. I have some that are over and under-exposed. I have a lot of misses. What I can say, however, is it was a good experience. I think I would be willing to have a go at it again. It would have to be at my expense of course, but I am willing to try again.

My sincerest thanks to the BPS executive for the opportunity, Mike for his expertise, and Glory for her bravery, confidence and emotion. To my other Sensei’s for complimenting me on my first attempt to edit one of those technically imperfect photos. Hopefully, the one I shared was the hardest one I had to edit and to anyone who reads this submission for taking the moment in time to read about one newbie’s experience. The portraiture experience of a photography hobbyist.

Behind The Scenes

Ron Layne