Last weeks sunday I had the pleasure to make photographs of a big family. Three generations, eleven people. Despite partially heavy rain we had a lot of fun and got some really beautiful pictures. For me it was a specially delight to catch the grandparents’ still noticeable lovingness with my work!
The photo shoot was a big surprise for the grandparents. They only knew about a session with me and her granddaughter but one hour later the other part of the family with her daughter, son-in-law and four kids arrived at the scene and my challenge began ;-)
I had planned to do a mix of photos in available light and with a small flash setup. But you know, life is the thing that happens when you plan how to live: It partially started to rain just after we had finished the first frames. As result I used only available light because I was busy enough to avoid raindrops flood my lenses and to keep a good mood around the people.
This was my first photo shoot with a big family and an older couple – and I loved it. “Just Take some shots of the grandparents with and w/o the kids” I was told by the client and I instantly thought of two old people sitting in a rocking chair with the grandchildren on bosom…
But they were really different: Dynamically, in love with life, always in motion and on top they were/are still reaaaally in love. Very impressive!!!
In my short photojournalist’s life I learned to just let things happen. Catched moments are more authentically and my news agency don’t want contrived photographs anyway (in case you have to write it down in the caption!)
And this way of journalistic photography is good for portraits sessions too, especially with couples. When someone is in love I want to see it at pictures! Negative examples are such typically boring wedding pictures where the photographer had told the couple to stand in front of a tree and to instantly look like they are in love… ;-)
For this reason the only thing I’m doing at a session is to give them some basics like the scene. As a photographer it’s your task to find a good ambient (like the bench above, that gave a nice contrast for the grandparents in color and s/w) and to eventually build the strobist setup around them. I’m only interrupting people if someone poses unfortunately or when I realize that he needs a little hint to start.
The mix of keeping a low profile and just let things be will do it. But you have to get more involved with somebody† than to take a picture and get the cash. You have to show some interest for the human in front of your lenses…
Okay, let’s get back to sunday. After a bunch of nice photographs with the grandparents and -daughter the other part of the family arrived and I had to take† pictures of eleven people – together, in different situations and different angles and places. And the rain got stronger…
But they all were very brave and we got a lot of nice group shoots and other family pics near the opera house with its beautiful portico. By the way: If children are a little bit bored or stiff in front of the camera it sometimes helps to start a granny-tickle-attack ;-)
One last tip: Near the end I had the idea to let the kids run to the camera. Should do this earlier next time because exhausted children are easier to handle ;-)
Okay, here are some more pics. Me and the photo gear were all wet after the shoot but it was worth it. The photographs were mostly taken with an open aperture so the background blurred out enough. The clouds softened the sunlight what results in no harsh shadows in the faces.
Hope, my english was not too clumsy, have fun with the pictures! A video of this session is in progress too!
by Stefan Simonsen
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