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Beyond the Camera Bag: Preparing for a Successful Photo Shoot
Nearly 20 years ago in Montana I was team teaching a workshop with well-known and revered landscape photographer, Galen Rowell. For the first four days, I led; for the last three I assisted. When I finished my final critique, just before turning the workshop over to Galen, I fielded students’ questions. “What do you do to prepare your mind for a shoot?” one student asked. In the spirit of inquiry-based instruction, I turned it over to the class. “What do you all do?” I asked. As it turned out, four of the answers articulated were remarkably similar. These four answers happened to come from a group of students the class had affectionately started calling “The Four Musketeers.” During our critiques, these four consistently displayed amazing images. Upon waking in the morning, each of the four students, in their own way, lay in bed for a few minutes visualizing themselves taking great images. After hearing their responses, the rest of the class finally had an idea as to why their images were so strong.
The results support what many athletes, actors and artists (not to mention yoga instructors and other mind-body practitioners) experience in their lives, the mind’s amazing capacity to shape our reality. Focusing your intention and mental wherewithal on achieving a desired result can go a tremendous way toward an actual result. This, in turn, can actualize into reality. This process of visualizing a good photo shoot can be as important as making sure you packed all the necessary equipment.
As a teacher, I encourage visualization as one of many ways to prepare and connect to an upcoming shoot. Most recently, during a workshop in Texas Hill Country with 12 wonderful and diverse students, we set up our first shoot at a working homestead on the Lyndon B. Johnson Ranch. Before the shoot, I emphasized the importance of slowing down, of getting in touch with the location, and of immersing oneself (not just physically, but emotionally and intellectually) in a subject matter. Despite this advice, students finished quickly, and, in many cases, with phrases in the order of “I didn’t see much.” The critique that followed included some strong photos compositionally, but mostly the photos were just O.K. Throughout the following week, my assistant Heather and I really emphasized the importance of being grounded before photographing—of earnestly and mindfully getting in touch with the subject before trying to capture it. As the students became more mindful when photographing it began to show in their images. At our last shoot of the week, purposely scheduled at the same homestead where we started, the students experienced the place differently. They saw differently. They felt differently. Every one of them had truly learned to slow down and cultivate a way of seeing that they didn’t have at the beginning of the week. Watching students grow and change is always amazing, and this groups’ progress was no exception.
For me, on a day I am going to shoot, I consistently follow the Four Musketeers’ advice. I also incorporate Reiki, a modality of body work that, among other things, requires grounding and centering oneself before giving and receiving. The following are a few of many practical suggestions to help you mentally prepare for an upcoming shoot.
VISUALIZATION. As mentioned earlier, imagine yourself in the act of shooting. Imagine yourself grounded and in tune with your surroundings and subject. And finally, imagine the satisfaction of capturing creative and vital images.
SCOUTING. Arrive early or visit the site a day or two before you actually shoot.
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I remember shooting with Craig Tanner, one of my mentors in South Georgia. It was a site that Craig knew well, but we still visited the site the day before to scout the location (which we would shoot the following morning during civil twilight). We spent over an hour looking for places to shoot, imagining how the light would cast on various areas the next morning. We did this for two reasons: first, to get to know the area and its “feel.” Second, to see the area in day light to make sure we get full view of the area. At the beginning of civil twilight, my favorite time to shoot landscapes, it is still dark, and if that was our first time at this location, we wouldn’t know the lay of the land enough to find the “best spots.” |
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Whether I’m dealing with civil twilight or not, however, I scout any location before I actually shoot for any genre of photography. Take dance photography, for instance; I always visit the venue before shooting. I check out the lighting and best spots to photograph from to make the most of the time that I am actually capturing images as well as garner a sense of the type of equipment I need to bring with me (or, conversely, to leave at home if space is limited). |
WORKING AROUND A THEME. Early in the Texas Hill Country workshop this past month we visited Enchanted Rock State Natural Area. This was not an easy place to navigate with 12 students—or for them to visualize and find photographs due to the park’s more subtle beauty (i.e. rocks and cacti, rather than towering mountains and rushing streams). This location really challenged them to learn how to see the potential of a less aesthetically rich landscape. At the end of the shoot, I stepped away from the students and explored myself—interested, more than anything, in my own ability to “see” what wasn’t obvious. I gave myself seven minutes and two themes on which to concentrate my efforts: the small white flowers around cacti and the park’s infamous rock walls. Armed with only a point-and-shoot, I still managed to see beyond the obvious, and though the nine shots I captured aren’t portfolio quality, they aren’t bad either and certainly illustrate how concentrating your efforts around a theme can sharpen your perspective and boost your ability to “see” when you arrive at a shoot.
USING A VIEWING FRAME. A viewing frame, as covered in depth in the July 2008 newsletter, is a piece of  white cardboard with hole cut in it. (The hole is the same proportion as and therefore simulates the camera sensor.) And while a viewing frame cannot be used on some shoots because of time and logistical constraints, it is a fabulous tool when conditions permit. I always have one near—I carry one in my car and one in my camera bag. I started using one in 1973 while studying with Ansel Adams; he gave them out on the first day of the workshop and told us how important it was to use as we were composing our image before even taking our camera out of the bag. For many of us, once our camera is in our hands, we concentrate so intently on technical information that our mind is distracted from good composition.
CONSIDERING LIGHT. Another important part of preparing for a shoot is to be aware of the light prior to photographing. You can make successful images in any lighting condition, but not all subject matter is right for all lighting conditions. Make sure that no matter what time of day it is or what condition of light you are working with, you chose a subject that is appropriate for the light conditions at hand. For landscape photography, early morning or late evening light is soft, warm and directional, and arguably the best lighting to use. If in the bright sun, however, I look for shadows. No matter what it is, though, lighting is probably the most important variable in my shooting, even more so than composition and technical ability.
JOURNALING. Journaling can really help a photographer slow down and get in touch with their subject. Keeping a journal about your favorite images can be an excellent way to excel faster compositionally and technically. Reflecting on your emotional responses to a landscape and/or particular photo can help you prepare for the next time you visit the same or a similar location. Additionally, journaling can help you when you are finished with a shoot and ready to edit your images. Reading what you wrote before or after shooting can ensure that you maintain the mood when playing with color, shading, focus and other photographic variables.
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William Giles, a successful photographer who shot only large format black and white photos, was teaching a workshop I attended 25 years ago. Before shooting, he would spend up to an hour and a half getting in touch with the location (including journaling). All this time spent preparing meant that during what he considered “a good weekend of shooting” would likely yield one or two images; usually, however, these images would end up in his portfolio. Typically, most photographers end up with maybe 10 portfolio quality images a year out of thousands and thousands of shots taken. William Giles would end up with 50 out of hundreds of shots captured during any given year. In his case, investing time and energy into pre-shooting was the one variable that really made his images stand out. |
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In addition to the hints above, preparing for a successful shoot warrants acknowledgment that success isn’t necessarily tied to the number of photos you walk away with, but rather the quality of those images you do capture. I realize, of course, that this is not practical for all genres of photography, but, in general, it is a good rule of thumb. |
Finally, I would like to thank my 12 most recent students from Texas Hill Country who inspired some of the thinking shared above and, as is so often the case, taught me just as much if not more than I taught them. Thank you Jill, Sara, Diane, Carlos, Michael, Pam, Nancy, Holly, Scott, Chon, Sue and Susan.
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