Muse, musing and amused

[GrahamH]

A couple of years ago pretty much all I photograhed was landscape and nature (birds mainly). And I had fun doing so. I also felt SCARED of photographing people, I mean, what if they didn't like their picture? The horror!!!.
My wife also wanted a GOOD shot of her, not just a basic holiday snap of her in front of Niagara or something. She wanted something SPECIAL!!!!
OMG, what on earth would that be?

Anyway, I forced myself to take portraits. How? I am involved in ballroom dancing and I set myself up with an off camera flash, stand and brolly. Backdrop was a white sheet taped to a wall. Okay people - special promo, line up and get your pic taken in time for Xmas. All pics available for free from the dance organiser.
In other words event photography on a small scale. Honestly, I was terrified. I wasn't sleeping for DAYS prior to my first shoot. I read everything I could, on-line, magazines and books.
It went well (apart from some errant reflections in specs). People loved what I had done. WOW they said.
Eh! What happened? I had no idea, what did I do that was so special?

LESSON ONE
Well, after much head scratching, I found that a basically well lit shot (nothing fancy, just the single light - BUT with the brolly), without the harsh shadows people were so familiar with, was so much better than the average snapshot.
Okay, so I did this at several locations that Xmas, and the result was the same.

Okay next stage - bring on the wife, my beautiful (in my eyes at least) AngelA.
Basic lighting was no problem, but what else?
POSING.
Another mental meltdown.
Again, resort to all the available media, collect pics, figure out what to do.

LESSON TWO
Awareness slowly comes in. As long as you have at basic lighting (as a starting point), the posing/composition becomes the picture. Find a few easy to do poses and hey presto, some nice shots of Angela.

Okay, now came the third lesson. And this took some time to become obvious. I began to use my newly developing (note, still a work in progress) skills on friends (so as not to bore AngelA). Turns out that AngelA photographs far better than most other people I know. As tyhe saying goes, the camera adds 10 pounds, and so with AngelA I had some room to play. Other people with more normal builds just didn't photo the same.

As a result of photographing AngelA and the photos turning out so much better than when using other people, I was encouraged at an earlier stage than I may have been, and that kept me going through the tiumes of self doubt and stress.

So, to those who appreciate Angela in face and form, welcome to the club.
For those who find issue, I sincerely hope you too have a muse that can encourage you to explore imagery.

Graham.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder (and I know there are plenty who eye Angela, I am so lucky she chose me).

[Mark von Kanel]

Now i know why my wife will model and i wont, shes thin... IM NOT!!!

[GrahamH]

Now i know why my wife will model and i wont, shes thin... IM NOT!!!

The difference between slim/slender and thin and skinny is the way the weight is carried.
Again, stocky, stout and fat, same thing.
With the camera each can be represented with the same model.
Still need to learn the tricks for that.
Graham

[Mark von Kanel]

When you learn the trick pass it on, i need to shed a few pounds.....