When Ryan asked me if I’d be willing to do some head shots for him, I didn’t hesitate to say yes, but I made sure he knew I’d never done them before. Somehow I knew that wouldn’t be an issue with him, though, because he is the epitome of the perfect client…easy going, carefree, always happy, super flexible and is down for anything. His fiance, Renae, is much the same, which is why I’m SO looking forward to their wedding on 10/10.
I was meeting Ryan and Renae to go over last minute wedding details anyway, so we decided we’d knock out the head shots after that. That is, until Junior decided to Just. Stop. Working. Absolutely nothing happened when I pressed the shutter release, for what seemed like forever. No problem, I don’t crack under pressure. While Ryan and Renae were concerned about me, I was apologizing profusely while running to get Big Daddy, aka, my backup camera. I got situated, turned it on, took a few shots to get my exposure right and It. Quit. Working. The battery died. Feeling a little sheepish while they waited patiently for me to get my act together, I inserted the spare battery and took a few more test shots only to have it quit. Again. Another dead battery. (Mind you, they’re fully charged before every wedding in case I ever need to use it. Apparently they’re not holding their charge very well these days.)
So, after 1 dead camera and 2 dead batteries, I’d exhausted all of my options and was completely embarrassed. The wonderful client’s they are, they were more worried about my situation then the fact that they were inconvenienced. Luckily we were able to reschedule for the next morning, provided I could get my act together, lol.
Sunday morning we headed over to the local soccer field, because Ryan is a huge soccer fan. He even owns a semi-pro team. I really wanted the head shots to represent him.
Whenever I’m shooting, I prefer to start out in a way that puts the subject most at ease. For Weddings that’s usually when they’re getting ready at the salon, and for Engagement Sessions I tend to start out shooting from a distance so I’m not up in their face. For this…what better way than to kick the ball around for a bit?
Then we moved on to some casual head shots in the t-shirt. This is one of my favorite ones from the session, because it’s just Ryan. A few times I’d asked him not to smile, and when going through the images I tossed almost all of them. He’s always smiling, so it’s just not natural to see pictures of him with a serious face.
There are 2 different versions of this shot. Focus on the ball:
And focus on him. This is another one of my favorites.
I got so wrapped up in shooting and getting finished in time that I almost forgot to take some of him in his nice shirt!
Ryan, thanks for being so patient and understanding, and thanks for the opportunity. I’ll see you in a few weeks!
P.S. For my Photographer friends and client’s with weddings coming up, I want to let you know that Junior has been sent to the Canon repair center for a checkup. I think his shutter may be going, and it’s better to be safe than sorry.
