#101 – November 2, 2021

Greetings!

I got to point my camera at someone different today!

This is my brother, he’s number two in the lineup with me being number one, but being born first and possibly photography is the only way I beat him at anything. But that’s not the point of this post.

Today I was helping him out with a promo video and then (after the pizza he so graciously supplied for lunch) I got to put him in front of my camera for some promo photos. And to be honest, after we finished those, he was a great sport and let me have a little play with some close-up portraits as well.

To paraphrase the great Tommy Emmanuel, someone we both admire greatly, my brother really knows how to “spank the plank!”. He makes his guitars sing and perfectly weaves his singling around his guitar arrangements, often sounding like a complete backing band all at once.

With this in mind, and right from the start of the photoshoot, I ask him to play. I specifically told my brother to play something that he always throws himself into. I wanted him to move and emote as he played trusting in my equipment, experience and talent to be able to draw him out and freeze the motion at just the right moment.

And with today’s photo, I think I managed to do just that.

It was such an amazing feeling working with a subject again. Someone who trusts you and responds to direction allowing me to do what I do whilst he does what he does and takes a great deal of enjoyment from it.

I’ve seen so many photos where it looks like the subject has been asked to look like they were playing and it just doesn’t translate to the final photo.

If you ever want or need to take a photograph of someone doing something they are very good at, have them actually do it. It’s up to you to anticipate and grab the moments as they are presented in front of you. This goes for hobbies, professions, sports and or performance. Anything really.

Needless to say, we had a great time and I have far too many photographs to look through. This was my “pancake” shoot as M put it, which explains why I overshot it. Oh, a pancake shoot is the first shoot after a long break, you know how the first pancake you cook often has the tendency to come out sub-pair.

From what I’ve shown my bro, his feedback has me happy to report this did not come out sub-par. This puts me in a good mindset for the wedding I’m shooting with M on Saturday.

Anyhoo, you’ll probably see a few more photos from the photoshoot as there are many I’m very pleased with.

I’m working on pulling the blog release schedule back now that the world is opening up. My “free” time has significantly reduced but I am in no way saying goodbye. I’ve really enjoyed creating the content and your feedback has been very heartwarming. Thank you for letting me know it’s OK not to post every day. It’s certainly taken the pressure off!

Thanks for reading and I’ll see you in the next post.

Richard

 

Facebook Group
If you are not a member already, please consider joining the Average Suburban Dad Blog Followers Facebook Group. I’m posting to the group whenever I publish a post. Start or join discussions on the photograph and/or content with others!  And maybe suggest a better name for the group.

[PROGRESSBAR_WP id=975]