As a family portrait photographer, I am constantly on the watch for great locations.In particular, I enjoy the challenge of finding locations that will give my clients a unique experience, locations that fit their family's interests and personality.
Within the next couple of weeks, I have a client that wants to have their family photography session downtown for the holidays. So I grabbed my camera and went on a scouting trip downtown.
The first general concept that I have in mind for the location is to follow a strict adherence to the Rule of Thirds. Whatever I end up shooting, I want some nice balance in the scene.
I was hoping to find some interesting architectural features. Lots of stone and granite will have a warmer, hand-crafted feel. Seems to me that glass and steel structures will feel too sterile, not so good for a warm family portrait session.
A small oasis of plants and a water feature in the middle of the downtown desert cityscape was a nice surprise too. Some of the character of downtown Phoenix is the light rail system, so I added a couple images for my idea board featuring the light rail stations.
As I captured each of these images, I was visualizing how this family of four, two adults and two teenagers, will fit into the scene:
- how tall are they?
- how they will be framed?
- how much space four people take up width-wise as they stand shoulder-to-shoulder?- how will I pose them?
- will I do special groupings, perhaps of the parents without the kids, the kids together, each family member individually, etc?
Even though Phoenix is a relatively new city in the scope of things, there is some older (1950's?) architecture. Not sure if this family will appreciate the Art Nuevo look, but added a picture or two of some old buildings and their entrance ways.
One of the finished art pieces that I like to offer my clients is a hand painted canvas wrap, depicting one of the best images from their session. Since I don't have a lot of client sessions downtown, I wanted to gain a deeper understanding, a stronger sense of painting downtown. I needed to immerse myself into one of these scouting images.
For this assignment, I chose the first picture that I captured during the scouting trip ... in front of the Orpheum Theater. Something about this scene conveys a sense of being downtown, yet still has a small town feel, as so many people describe Phoenix even though we're the fifth largest metro area in the United States.
Here's the finished piece. What do you think? How'd it turn out? Compare this painting to the picture of the Orpheum Theater. You'll see where the inspiration came from. Can you imagine a family walking hand-in-hand towards the viewer? That's exactly what I hope to capture with my downtown family client session.
