Last photo session of 2011!

I’ve been wanting to take some portraits of people for a while now as I haven’t done a great deal of them in 2011. The chance to learn and develop without an audience is rare, so when Jess got in touch with me the evening before my day off about doing a portrait session the next day I was really up for it. I’ve had some ideas about it as we’d talked about it a while ago, but I’d put it on the backburner until we discussed it any further.

With no further discussion, we met at 3pm and it was already a bit dark and had been raining intermittently for a lot of the day, but it was just about ok to go out in. By the time we got to the location we only really had around an hour before it got too dark. As the photos went on I ended up pushing the ISO to 4000, then 5000… not really the sort of ISO I want to use unless absolutely desperate, but I wanted a bit of ambient light. As the photos by this point weren’t too important and I was already pleased with some photos I had, it didn’t matter too much.

After the mud and rain we went back to her house for a quickly set up portrait and that was that. I’m really pleased with the results despite not being as prepared as I’d like to have been, and I’m still not too great at directing people, but I’m getting there and I think Jess looks really great in all of these photos, as well as connecting well with the camera.  I really feel like my photography has come on a lot in the last year, whether dealing with other people or in my technical abilities. As with anything, it’s such a good feeling when you feel you’ve broken through another mental wall and I hope to continue learning and growing in confidence again next year. 

One more post coming before the end of the year. My review of my year in photos! Wow, I bet you’re REALLY REALLY excited.

Oh yes, here’s Jess.