lifestyle – Page 2 – IJM Photography

It’s a slightly miserable Friday afternoon but has been made wonderful firstly, by my boss, who said I could leave work early, secondly, by a friend who works at the Fnac, but doubles up as a pro photographer, and lastly, by those lovely people at the Sugar Blue Cafe .

Those of you who know me, and those of you who don’t, but have read my blog, know that I have a weakness for cake, and cheesecake in particular. That, and a cup of tea.

I’ve been thinking of buying a drone to do some aerial photography, but after having talked to my guy at the Fnac, have decided against it, so no aerial photography on here. Sorry!

So, as I was leaving the Fnac I could see people with drops of water on their coats. My coat of course is in the car. Remember, I am an idiot after all. As I went through the doors, without the intervention of the security guards, I saw people coming in and shaking umbrellas dry. I could see drops of rain falling on the ground.

Bugger!

I wandered through the Marché de Noël, selling all kind of things that I have no interest in buying. At least there was some shelter from the little bit of rain. I went through the rain into the Place Royale where the fountain, which in all fairness can be described as a statement piece, has almost been hidden by chalets selling jewellery, saucisson, food, games, and all kinds of stuff that they want us to put into our stockings at Christmas.

There was the Carousel and I can imagine the children riding the mechanical horses having harassed their parents to the point of giving in. Or was it the parents off loading their children?

Phew. I managed to pass without giving into the urge to do the same as the children. I mean riding on a mechanical horse and not harassing my parents. At 47 years old I think I’ve grown out of harassing my parents, or have I???

It was nice to take some night time photos of the lights in the streets and of the square. I’m usually a right Humbug, which sounds so much better than a grumpy old fart!

Oh bliss, the Sugar Blue Cafe is still open. I do like this place. Oh bliss, the Sugar Blue Cafe is still open, and there is somewhere to sit. On a Saturday it can get very full very quickly, but the wait is always worth it. I love the food they do. It’s fresh, sometimes vegetarian, and always lovely. I ordered my vanilla cheesecake with the fruit of the forest coulis, and a cup of Lapsang Souchong tea, which has been a favourite of mine since I was an angst filled teenager. I had a bit more hair back then…

On either side of me are young twenty something women talking about pregnancy, the fact that her dad didn’t like the book she bought last year for Christmas, a friend who was refused a bank loan for a small business. Telephones are on the table next to their plates and cups. Modern teatime I suppose.

I look just like an old fella typing on his phone. I can’t be really bothered to listen anymore. When I write in English, I seem to block out any French. It’s as if I’m on my weekend now and I’m not interested in making the effort. Now they’re talking about marketing and business communication. You see Dear Reader, you’re not missing anything.

Apart from the cheesecake and tea….

This was my first go at doing a photo shoot and as any perfectionist worth their salt I wanted it to be as perfect as possible. I’d done my homework about how to approach working with a model. I’d looked up so many tutorials you can’t even begin to imagine how much footage I must have seen or the quantity of articles read.

There are some basic rules that seem self explanatory, but are worth following:

Listen to the model.
They have a message to give to their audience, and you need to know what it is, and discuss what kind of photos or video they want doing, and how this will help them to portray this message.
Do your homework.
Preparation is everything. Know what kit you need, or might need. This can include batteries that have been charged, memory cards at the ready, or enough rolls of film for the purists out there. This also includes a back-up camera… Murphy’s Law and all that!
Be a gentleman.
Avoid any type of douchebaggery. Your model is human being and deserves all the respect you would want them to show you. When I did this shoot we were both equals, and most definitely on equal footing. She wasn’t my thing to play around with and take photos as if she was a potted plant. I’m fine for giving direction, but there are limits. Apparently some photographers forget this very important rule and come over as really creepy and sordid.
Show some of the images so the model can have an idea of how the shoot went.
Editing.
Go home and start the editing process, or get you films to to the lab, and hope they don’t screw up the development and that you negatives arrive without scratches, which once happened to me. Choose your photos from the huge amount you’ve taken because you wanted to be sure and gt at least one reasonable photo. I took one of the chosen few photos and edited in about 5 ways and showed it to the model,so she could give me her opinion and it would also give me a process to follow for the rest of the editing.
The Model is a Human Being!!
I’d really like to come back to remembering the model is a human being and must be treated with the upmost respect. That person in the viewfinder is somebody’s daughter, sister, mother, spouse etc. Don’t be a cad and even if you are not, you must act always as the perfect gentleman.

My research on how to approach photography with a model took me through many articles found on Google and a good few videos on YouTube. There was one in particular that stood in my mind and was more about a certain philosophy instead of just technique. And here’s a link to it!

https://spark.adobe.com/page-embed.js