A New Model

One of the hardest things for me to learn about photography is dealing with a model. When I first started getting into photography I stuck to inanimate objects. Flowers, trees, rocks, etc. . . Then I moved up to waterfalls, birds, and bugs. All of these subjects take direction very well. They always appear natural and comfortable in front of the camera.

I have since moved to the next level. Photographing people. I get the most practice on this work with my family. They each provide a different challenge to me as I try and capture a specific photo.

Boy - wants nothing to do with being in front of the camera. One shot, two if I'm quick, and he's gone.

Girl - LOVES being in front of the camera. She will pose and smile for a long time and loves every minute of it. The challenge is that she exaggerates each pose and expression so much that you don't get a natural pose from her.

Baby - doesn't take direction well and crawls off set crying if you try to pose her more than once.

Wife - normally shows a lot of patience for the camera as I learn to move the light source and camera angle. The challenge here is that she sometimes looks uncomfortable in front of the camera and this comes across in the photos at times.

With these challenges, I sometimes revert back to a subject that can not throw things at me.

So you can imagine my families excitement when I came home with a new model -

The new model doesn't have a name yet (any suggestions?). He is fun to pose and doesn't complain no matter how long you ask him to hold steady. The package said that he can be put into any human pose.

Guess what family! When I play with my new model and find a photo I like, I'm going to ask you to re-create the moment. It's like a crazy game of Twister without the color dots and spinner, but still provides the uncomfortable positions and lots of falling over!