Paul Wilkinson Photography Blog

My perfect photo is nothing more than a simple shot of a face with the eyes looking straight back out at you. It takes a lot of trust to get this photo but it’s worth it every single time – particularly if the eyes are like Hannah’s – they’re awesome!

This session was for a model portfolio – a formal package that we’ve only recently introduced. We’ve been photographing models as part of our commercial work for a long time of course, but we’ve never really concentrated on helping create portfolios before. Until now anyway.

We were approached by Hannah’s mum a month or two ago to see if we would consider doing it. We had previously captured just a few quick images of her last year at a stunning wedding that we shot at Silverstone (Shelley, the beautiful bride from that wedding, is Hannah’s aunt). I remember thinking then that Hannah had really distinctive eyes that might photograph well – and I wasn’t wrong!

Mandy wanted to capture images in that familiar style in which we shoot our weddings rather than the images she’d seen from other photographers (her words not mine). I take that as a huge compliment. And no small amount of pressure! There is always a degree of pressure in this job – it’s where the adrenaline rush comes from – but when someone comes to you because they’re not happy with what other photographers are offering, particularly when it’s the client’s own kids concerned, it just feels even more critical that we get it absolutely right.

So, here we were on a very wet and cold day to get four hours or so of images with Hannah. And, I have to say, I think it was time well spent!

And Hannah was brilliant.

It’s not every 16 year old who will happily stand in the middle of the road in a ball dress because the photographer thinks it will make a beautiful image (I was right by the way – it did) or sit in amongst damp leaves because I wanted a particular look. Very cool! Thankfully, the shivering doesn’t show in the images! We work really hard to ensure our clients are always comfortable during a shoot but – and this is as true of our summers as much as our winters – the rain, wind and cold can sometimes conspire against you. Though I do promise you we were wrapping her back up in a thick coat as quickly as we could between shots!

Ultimately, this shoot was my idea of a perfect session as both Hannah and Mandy (her mum) were really really easy to work with – and very funny! Both myself and Kelly, my assistant, had an absolute ball! And the photos? Did we get it right? Let’s just say that the next copy of our book that we’ll produce in the new year will have some absolutely stunning images in it!

What do you think?

Let us know.

And if you like what you see here and maybe interested in a similar session then drop us a line!

Cheers
P.

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 15th, 2008, 12:47 pm and is filed under For Website, Model Potfolio. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.