The majority of my planned shoots are done in a two car garage (my makeshift studio) or at a nearby park. I will take my camera with me when I go to events around town, however I do prefer controlling the setting, including lighting which results in the use of the aforementioned garage. But there’s only so much you can do with such a limited space. However, there is a challenge to shooting in a location that is fresh and different. Being mainly a studio-type photographer, one of my 2019 goals is to do more on-location shoots and so far, I’m loving the challenge and the results. The idea for these shoots came from a post I saw about a photographer that did a shoot at a local home improvement store. Check it out! The images came out amazing! Bravo to the photographer and model for doing something so creative. So why not give on-locations shoots a try? Although I have a long list of on-location places I want to shoot in 2019, most of which I’m gonna’ keep secret, I will talk about a few of the places I have already had the pleasure to shoot. My first on-location shoot was at a local library back in 2018 with the amazing Brittanie Lynne. I was so incredible nervous prior to this shoot because I wasn’t sure how the lighting would work out, if I could find good compositions on the fly, and I was nervous about attracting unwanted attention. I powered through the shoot anyway. Having done tons of portrait shoots prior made the process far more manageable than I feared. When went early in the morning when the library wasn’t terribly busy and spent about an hour shooting in different areas. I love several of the images we got that day. The only thing I would have done differently is call the library ahead of time to get permission. Although there is an argument that it is better to ask for forgiveness than permission, if you get permission, you are good to go! Recently the Michaels challenge was all the rage. The Michaels (or Hobby Lobby) challenge is taking portraits of individuals in a Michaels store. The story at the time was that the stores were actually encouraging individuals to do portrait shoots in the stores typically in the floral section. I called my local Michaels store and asked them if this was fact or fiction. Sadly, they informed me it was fiction but that I was more than welcome to do it anyway! I contacted Dina, the model I’ve worked with the longest, and we met at the store and shot away. The nice thing about getting permission ahead of time is that the staff knew why we were there and didn’t bother us at all - the other customers were the only ones confused! As an attorney, I have always envisioned a photo shoot in a courtroom but getting permission and access to an empty courtroom isn’t easy. Not only do you have to deal with security, but you also need to get permission from the judge to use his/her courtroom. However, I'm lucky enough to have several friends that work in a courthouse who also follow my photography. Long story short, my friends made it possible for me to shoot in a courtroom I used to practice in – on a weekend – with the judge’s permission – and in exchange for a copy of the images! Done and done! An attorney I used to work with previously was in need of some professional images for her websites and we hadn’t been able to find a decent location for her images, so we killed two birds with one stone. She volunteered to be my model for my idea and we also did some images at the courthouse for her use as well. The judge was awesome. Not only did we get access to the building but he let us borrow his robe for some of the images. Lastly, about a year ago, my oldest daughter wanted to celebrate her birthday with some friends at a local bowling alley. It was so festive with bright colors and sounds that I immediately thought it would be awesome place to do a shoot. However unlike the courthouse, I had no connections to anyone remotely associated with a bowling alley so I put the idea on the old bucket-list. About a year later I decided to send an email to the business outlining my idea. I honestly wasn’t expecting them to reply. Why would they? About a week passed by and I had totally forgotten about the email when I received a response. They were open to my idea. A few weeks later and I was back at the bowling alley one hour prior to them opening with Brittanie Lynne. They gave us complete access to the facility including allowing us to go out on the lanes for images. They also asked if I could take some images of some of their food so they could display it on monitors in the bowling alley as well. I had everything I needed so I agreed. They made some killer nachos, a hamburger, and a salad. After photographing it, the offered the prepared food to us for free! Score! Not only did I get the images I wanted, the business got images they wanted and my model got a free meal! All with free reign to the business prior to business hours! After the shoot was over, the wife and kids came down at opening and we bowled for the morning (I insisted we pay, and did). Each of one these shoots presented unique challenges and each pushed me out of my comfort zone for differing reasons. Although I still love studio type work, I think on-location work can also stretch and improve your photographic abilities; at least it does for me! I have several other on-location ideas I hope will happen this year and I couldn’t be more excited. If you are considering doing something like this, reach out and see if you can get permission first. It just makes everything go much smoother if you can. And yes, you will get some rejections if they decide to respond at all but you will most likely also get some takers as well. No harm in asking. Use a model you have worked with before and are very comfortable with. It’s one less thing to worry about if you work with a seasoned model, not to mention a great time saver as you don’t have to direct them as much. Lastly, have fun and take tons of images. You may never get the opportunity to do it again! So get out of your comfort zone, make your way down to your local home improvement store (or bowling alley) with a model and make some magic!
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