Shot with no plan.

For the most part, I'm trying to have a good idea of what I want to shoot before I set up the studio. In this case, I was shooting some "bathtime" type shots: Girl in comfy bathrobe brushing her hair, brushing her teeth, or just showing various expressions.

But, there's one important factor in working with the average 5-year-old. If they're not having any fun, you've got maybe two minutes (if that) before they stop giving you anything worth shooting.

So, with Model #1, we take turns. I get to take a few of the shots I have in mind, then it's her turn. She liked the shots I took of myself a couple of weeks ago with binoculars, and she loves looking at stuff through said binoculars, so it wasn't a huge surprise that she had the above idea on her shot list for the night. I should note that I gave her no direction, other than, "Here is where you stand." She's looking at nothing, straight into a blank wall, but doing a pretty convincing acting job!

Anyway, as I continue to build my portfolio at various agencies, I'm noticing that some of my best selling images were planned and executed by one pretty amazing 5-year-old!

Confidence

We had lots of family visiting for Model #2's 2nd birthday. I took tons of pictures, but not a lot intended for stock. While I had a ton of people in the house over the past few weeks, I didn't ask even one if they'd be willing to model for some stock images. Now that they are gone, I think about the missed opportunity.

I still feel like I'm working out the technical details, and learning to choose good concepts. This results in a major lack of confidence, and a some uneasiness at the idea of approaching new models, even family. I have to work on this. Perhaps as acceptances and sales improve, this is a problem that will fix itself. Time will tell. In the meantime, some sort of goal might help. How about this:

Goal: Before the end of the month, ask one new potential model to do a shoot with me.

I didn't do any planned shoots while our visitors were here, but as we did the tourist thing, I did get a lot of shots I love. Some were even suitable for stock, here are a couple more: