Photoshoot

Yesterday we started off with a very cheap haircut, a fun (and informative) experience and a photo each and came out with a regular priced haircut, a fun (and informative) experience and 5 ok-priced, well-lit, well-posed digital photos. This is following a deal I spotted on lastminute for a haircut, makeup and photoshoot with one print for £10. Unfortunately (?!), we are a very photogenic, touchy-feely couple who were having some fun - and it shows.

I was most excited about the photoshoot part of the experience as I hoped to learn some poses for portraits. Most commonly, standing shots of me were one hand on hip and sitting was with legs crossed. For Lee, standing shots were hand in pocket or arms crossed. There were, of course, minor adjustments and differences, including holding collar or looking away and down for me.

If you're not interested in poses - I'd skip the next few paragraphs..

Our first set was a typical residential stair, with everything painted white. Here, I stood leaning against the wall, one hand on hip, or one hand on banister, or I sat with my wrist on my knee, or leaning forward with my head on my hand. The next step was to bring Lee in to sit beside me on the step above and I rested my hands on his knee. Then it was his turn: leaning back against the wall, leaning shoulder against the wall with hands in pockets, sitting with feet on different steps either leaning back or leaning forward.

Next stop, a wall with bamboo curtain, where we stood alone or together, and then back to our own bit of curtained-off studio where we changed. Most of our shots were then taken in front of a roll of black card, with or without an additional light behind us. We had together shots where my arms were on his shoulders or around his waist; where we looked at each other or at the camera, or he looked at me and I looked at the camera; Lee stood behind me with arms wrapped around or I looked backwards over my shoulder and he looked basically straight on.

The remaining shots, brought in props. The first, a plain black chair, at a slight angle to backdrop, lesser angle to lightbox and photographer 

- for me: sitting up (wrists crosses on knees), sitting back (one arm across back of chair), leaning forward (chin resting on hand, keeping other arm across back of chair) [See below];
- for us: Lee giving me a hug from behind [See below];
- for Lee: sitting leaning forward (elbows on knees), with leg crossed [See below].
The second prop, a white box with a hole in the middle with a white background (rather
than the black to date) 

- for me: Sitting sideways in the circle (feet against the perimeter), sitting up in the circle (hands against perimeter, legs crosses);
- for us: Lee poking his head over my shoulder with no change from me, me back in first pose with Lee leaning on my knees, us both sitting facing forward.
- or Lee: ?

We finished up with some individual and paired shots in front of a textured wallpaper.

The whole shoot took about 30 minutes and there were approximately 80 photos from which we could choose. In most poses there was a portrait and landscape shot. Each location was lit by a giant lightbox and in some cases an additional light source (with or without a coloured gel). Our photographer Jay-Lin was experienced enough to recognise how much we enjoyed photos together and to use our connection in the photos she took. She never said to smile, just positioned us and got to shooting. I would be interested to see what would happen if the photographer then gave us 2 minutes for anything else we wanted to try - could really get some gems - but then perhaps this has been tried and resulted in duds.

The photos of us are pretty sweet: Exhibit A.

From 20111121 Photo shoot