Best of...
The past week of the Cass Imaging shoots...
Staying extremely busy, Ive had absolutely no time to do anything other than my engineering job at Comcast, photo shoots, and editing. I just finished editing the baby shoot from last Thursday night, and even managed to get done the two shoots we did at Batsto Village on Saturday, a baby shoot and our first maternity shoot. The maternity shoot started at Batsto on Saturday, and then we wrapped it up in the baby's nursery room Sunday night after I got done a long day at Comcast. So, needless to say, its been a crazy few days and I needed to wrap these last 3 shoots up as quick as possible to leave a few nights open to prepare for our first wedding this Friday night in Cape May, NJ.
I had been looking forward to the maternity shoot, since it was our first one and also because it was at Batsto, a place I have grown to love shooting at. Since we were already going to be there, we scheduled the baby shoot the same day and shot it at the same spot, which we were pretty happy about since we brought a lot of gear and props for both shoots, and it wasnt a short walk from the parking lot to the spot I like to shoot at.
The maternity shoot...went even better than I could have imagined. The soon-to-be mother and father were awesome to work with, completely on board with all my ideas, even bringing some really cool ideas of their own. I was able to give them a total of 57 fully edited images and they couldn't have been happier. Along with all of that though, this shoot went a little deeper, and I cant help but feel a real sense of achievement, and a feeling of accomplishment.
The prep for this shoot started about a week before. I wanted our first maternity shoot to stand out, and since it would be shown to a new audience, I knew I had to bring my A game. I started thinking of how I would want Sandi's maternity photos to look, and just like with every shoot I do for Cass Imaging, I wanted to tell a story with it, go deeper than a simple studio shot, or the basic mother holding her belly shot. It didn't take long before I had an image in my head...and it was a mother out in the fresh Fall air, hanging her clothes on a clothes line, including the baby clothes she has washed over and over again as she eagerly waits for her baby to enter the world. Then I could just take it from there. I also wanted to give it a vintage or antique feel, so Batsto was the perfect spot, and I knew exactly where it would work. I sketched it out on paper, which I've started doing lately to try and visualize how I think I want the final image to look, where I can then make changes to it, and also give me something to show Sandi and get her thoughts on it.
We woke up Saturday morning, did an equipment and battery check, and ran out to pick a few last minute props up before heading to Batsto. We left about an hour early to give us enough time to set up, and as I pulled up to Batsto, there were not only 2 other photo shoots taking place, but one was a wedding. I waited til they were done and then started unpacking the truck, which was....packed. All of the visitors curiously watched as I loaded up with all the camera gear...2 camera bags fully packed, a light stand with umbrella and reflector, my 35mm Nikon film camera slung around my kneck, and the 8ft long posts to hang the clothes line from. Sandi carried everything else, which I still have no idea how she manages to carry what she did. The bad news...we had a hike and a half to get to where I wanted to set up, and these props weren't light, so I tried to rush ahead to drop everything and get back to take some of the load off Sandi.
As I was walking back to help her, I couldn't help but think about how far we've come in less than a year, as I watched all the Batsto visitors starting to grow more and more interested in what we were doing, as if they were about to witness the filming of a movie. Now sitting here looking at the finished images, seeing this project go from a vision to the completed product, I can't help but feel like, well.... a "professional".
A couple of the baby photos are from the same shoot that I posted shots from in the previous blog, but I just finished these up tonight, and they are without a doubt my best baby shots yet. I made some changes to my lighting and it really paid off. The 2nd group of shots are of baby Gianna, a baby we are taking monthly photos of, and the third...the maternity shoot. Enjoy!
