Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Lighting and Fighting

Waiting around for something to happen is a surefire way of wasting a lot of valuable time.

I have spent an inordinate amount of time lately getting to grips with my equipment; soaking up knowledge, watching tutorials, reading magazines and trying hard to turn my mind into a sponge.

Fact is, theoretical knowledge is useless if it isn't put into practice.

You can photograph friends and fellow photographers until your index finger falls off, but the true test of your skills requires working in real situations - You need to know if you can get things right when the chips are down.

So what do you do?

You go out and make something happen.
The world is full of interesting people...

We all know interesting people, sometimes we just don't realise it.

Case in point is the trainer/owner of a local boxing gym that I had the pleasure of meeting recently.
We got to chatting about average and mundane things, and it's fair to say a certain rapport was established, without which I would have been hesitant to proceed with the idea I had.
To be honest, the idea only came to me a day after meeting him, but the opportunity was there if I felt like pursuing it, and I did.

So I phoned him up and explained what it was I was interested in doing; taking promotional shots of boxers.

It turns out that he is staging a rather large fight night quite soon and is desperate for a few good photographers, and so I jumped at the opportunity.

Anyway, to cut to the chase, I ended up at the gym 2 weeks later to photograph 7 fighters in his stable that will be on the fight card that night.

In preparation for this I had looked up a few good text effects and searched through boxing blogs for images of stances and poses that would be usable.

In the end though I settled for their neutral stances and worked from there.

Here is a little known fact that we photographers need to remind ourselves of: Most people have an abundance of mundane and embarassing photos of themselves. They are aware of it, and they hate it.

Finding an opportunity to provide a person with images that they love is what makes the job so challenging.

Get it right and the reaction from your client is absolutely magical.


In the words of Joe McNally, there are 3 things you need to convey to your subject when you first meet:
1) This is going to work out fantastically
2) I am really good at what I do
3) I'm not going to waste your time
Being able to convey this confidence is not something you acquire by reading; you've got to be there in the thick of things, making mistakes and learning from them.
This is why pro bono work has been such an essential part of my development. This shoot was no exception.

Becoming a successful photographer requires more than just knowing your craft, you have to pay attention to the "business" side of things too, in almost equal proportions.
To me that means mastering 2 fundamental principles; Giving your clients what they want, and getting a fair price for the work you do.

Now price is a debatable entity. It is not always a monetary reward. In fact, establishing good connections and garnering great word of mouth can often be far more valuable than the price you would have charged for the work you did.

Working for free is hard work, but approached correctly it is an immensely valuable tool.
So what did I get out of this shoot?
1. A chance to use studio lights on location, and put what I've learnt about lighting into practice.
2. A chance to make mistakes, and the realisation that I can recognise them and correct them on the fly.
3. A chance to hand out business cards.
4. A chance to do something good for some really nice people who were exceptionally generous with their time.
5. A chance to use a little creativity to produce an end product that is more than just a picture.
6. At the end of it all, 7 happy subjects - and that's the only payoff worth focussing on.


Here's to the next opportunity presenting itself soon.

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