Today I thought I’d talk about a recent corporate headshot shoot done for the Brisbane branch of a prominent Australian law firm.
It was a bit different to normal in that they had a very specific set of requirements for the corporate headshot shoot: upper body, cantered in the frame, light coming from the left of camera and supplied in black and white.
A lot of shoots I’m booked for do not have this level of specificity. It’s often left to me to come up with a look or style of the shoot.
What I loved about this job was actually working within this narrow band of requirements, yet still bringing the magic.
NO MATTER THE REQUIREMENTS OR SPECIFICATIONS, THE GOLDEN RULE OF PORTRAITS ALWAYS APPLIES – CONNECT WITH THE PERSON BEFORE PUSHING THE SHUTTER.
In the case of shooting multiple portraits in a fairly tight time frame, you don’t have all that much time with each person, yet you can still connect.
I do this by simply talking with them like I would with friends I’ve known forever. Treat everyone equally and let them know that nothing is needed from the shoot. Just be yourself and that is all you need to do.
” JUST BE YOURSELF AND THAT IS ALL YOU NEED TO DO.”
This takes the pressure off since we all come to photoshoots with ideas of how we should look or what we need to do in the shoot. Being ourselves is easy. The beautiful thing about this is that’s where the magic actually lives. Once you give people permission to just be themselves, without any pressure or imposition, they really shine.
It’s taken me quite a few years to work this out. To realise that you can simply let things unfold without too much interference or pre-conceived ideals. Often it is shaped by a set of specific requirements (as it was on this shoot) but it’s important to still let the shoot flow and unfold as it needs to within that set structure.
The shoot went really well, the shots look great and the client really loves the results.
Have a look at some of what we shot here.
Until next time,
