Sarah’s Family Portrait

By John Kim | February 24th, 2010

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Right around New Years we received a call from Sarah Min at around 8 in the morning. Still feeling groggy from just waking up, we decided to let the call go to the machine. To our surprise, she was our very first referral that actually wanted to pay us to take her family portrait. Her family was in town but they were leaving the next day, so it was imperative that we do the portrait at that moment. I was in a weird dilemma because everything was such short notice, and there was no time for preparation. So I told her that we would be available in the afternoon to take some studio shots for her. That gave us about 4 hours to get ready, so I cleaned my equipment, pre visualized the type of pictures I would take, then headed off to meet with her family.

All the photos were in studio using a white background and constant studio lighting. I had avoided using strobe lights because I needed to see what I would get in camera. That was important because I had no time to really set up and test lighting. The session lasted around 2 hours, but with all the different set ups we went through, it felt much much shorter. One of the most difficult aspects of this session was taking pictures of their newborn baby. Considering he was their first child they were very protective of him, and so the pictures came out a bit rushed. Lesson learned is to let the parents know that they must be willing to do whatever it takes to get great images of their newborns. It takes a lot of patience to take baby pictures, because you have to make sure they are comfortable and well fed. Plus great newborn photos requires a sleepy baby, because it’s at that moment where they are easiest to pose. And for anyone who has experience, it takes time to get your baby to sleep.

So overall I’m pleased with the group shots, but not so pleased with the newborn pictures. Being a perfectionist by nature, I’m my worst critic. And with people photography, there are many variables that are just out of ones control. Experience and education will teach us how to make the best out of a bad situation. But as long as the client is pleased with the results, then we have done our job.

You can view Sarah’s Family Portrait.