Portraits of Another Boy

For those who saw the casting call last month this entry in my blog includes portraits made from the first of those sessions.  I love creating portraits.  For me its more than just taking a picture.  Its creating something artistic.  It involves planning and thought.  I always have a plan in my head and I even put it down on paper in my ideas journal.  Every session I do, for my clients or my personal projects, I have a plan.  Its wonderful when the resulting images match those in my head from the planning stages.  The image above is a perfect match.  The better I get as a photographer the closer the results are to these ideas I have. 

A large part of my life is spent coming up with ideas for portraits.  Sometimes I browse the internet.  This will often mean Pinterest or my favourite photographer’s websites.  And sometimes my ideas come more passively, in watching television, movies or reading magazines.  I even get ideas from eBay when I’m searching for props.  Often if I come across a beautiful piece of furniture or an antique item it will spark an idea I can apply to a future shoot. 

I am building a wonderful collection of props that includes a stunning set of drawers that I’ve used loads for both babies and children.  I have a couple of prams, a sizable collection of suitcases, books, stools and of course the school desk featured above.  My collection of clothing for children is growing all the time too.  In fact today I just bought a new dress and a vintage toy off eBay that I can’t wait to use, hopefully very soon.

This little boy you see here is both a past client and a child who attends one of the playgroups I photograph.  He has always photographed well with me so I was confident he’d also do well here.  He seemed to know what I wanted and did everything I asked.  He was a dream to work with and he had just the look I was after for this project. 

I have so many images to choose from often the hardest task is the selection process.  But I think I’ve got it narrowed down.  Unfortunately that will have to remain a secret for a little longer.  For now its time to start planning the next session.