my first "gig" (unpaid), ups and downs

[woodyracing]

So I've only had my camera for about 3 weeks and need practice like crazy, well I was asked to take photos for a church's valentine's banquet tonight. Just to be clear, this is a tiny country church and if I hadn't taken the pictures, they probably would have had a 70 year old man with a poloroid camera instead so there wasn't much pressure...

I got to the church to find that they want the pictures taken in a tiny nook/hallway that has been decorated with foil paper and some hearts. It was attached to the room the event was being held in, which meant constant fluorescent lighting. This was my first time even shooting people so the trouble with the background and lighting was a lot to deal with. I had my flash on a light stand w/ umbrella, that helped a bit but because the nook was so small, I couldn't get it at anywhere near the angle I wanted.

Overall though, it was a lot of fun. It was pretty much all couple/family shots, I took about 100 and kept about 25-30. The people made it a blast, especially the youth, they had a lot of fun posing and doing goofy stuff (as did the seniors actually lol). I did have a kid knock over my camera/tripod once but no harm done, fortunately the floor was carpet and the flash was attached by cord, so it fell slowly. Despite the fact that I know the shots are a long way from being "good," I'm considering the whole thing a success.


my nook for the evening:


IMG_3342 by woodyracing, on Flickr


One random shot I liked from the night, no c&c required, it wasn't a planned shot, we were just standing around talking when it happened, I practically had to dive at the camera to even get the shot lol

Valentine's by woodyracing, on Flickr

 

[kassad]

Sounds fun. I do something similar for a local youth center. I used to stress about the less than perfect conditions low ceiling, bad lighting, cramped quarters. Now I realized that it was all about creating a fun time for them.

 

[Ediacol]

So cute! Things like this totally make me smile!

 

[shortpants]

Cute! Glad you had fun, and I'm sure they will love their pictures despite any technical issues.

 

[woodyracing]

Thanks everybody, I handed off the pictures to the church this afternoon and they seemed pretty thrilled with them so that's good. I posted on fb that I wanted to practice the portrait thing and now I've got a few friends that volunteered to be my guinea pigs so hopefully I'll get some good practice soon