Portrait Photography in Boston

I have a small window in which to post these photos before I will bury it with other posts so that my sister-in-law Meg will not know that I have plastered her face all over my blog. She did say it was OK but I also know once she sees them she’ll get all embarrassed. Anyway she’s traipsing about in Italy right now, attending the wedding of a former co-worker whom she now rarely sees – this friend living in Italy and all –  so as a wedding gift Meg wanted to give a little portrait of herself. The premise was to have grab a few shots of her around Boston but with some Italian literature visible, ie she’s at home in Boston but thinking of faraway places where old friends are…Meg dreaming of Italy.

OK! So the premise might be a little cheesy! She’s holding travel books and chewing thoughtfully on pens, looking off into the distance…not exactly artfully or subtly done! But behind the scenes this was a really enlightening and fun exercise for the both of us. It took awhile for the shoot to get to “fun” because even though it was her idea, Meg was a NERVOUS WRECK the moment I pulled out the camera.  Finding nice spots with good lighting and/or backdrops, fiddling with the camera controls, pressing the shutter were the least of my worries. The subject NOT BREATHING out of nervousness was the biggest.

It is a very symbiotic relationship, this whole subject and photographer thing. I really need to work on ways to make people subjects comfortable. It really isn’t easy being in front of a camera when you’re trying to pretend that you’re not.

So here are some shots. We met at the Boston Public Garden after work and posed at the Swan Boat docks.

What IS she thinking about? France? Spain? The Grand Canyon?

Then we headed to the Boston Common.

Since it might not be clear to the recipient where we are, we took some shots in next to a t-shirt cart. But look, she still has her Italy books! Our “Meg Dreaming of Italy Whilst in Boston” theme remains intact!!

Some shots near Frog Pond in the Common. I was ALL OVER the fading sunlight. Mmm yummy yummy delicious sunlight.

But I showed Meg the photos, and she said, “My head is glowing” in such a way that indicated she did not like that her head was glowing. I was like, WHAT?! That is on PURPOSE. It is sun flare! How can you not like sun flare? Do you know how proficient one has to be in order to shoot sun flare?

So lesson learned is that thoughts like the last one I had isn’t something the subject will give two craps about, if it makes their hair look like “straw.” Or their nose look “honking.” Or their forehead look “in need of Botox.” Or their hips look “terrible.” Hey. I just remembered why I enjoy shooting animals so much! Heh.

But OK, no more back-lit shots. We moved to the bench on the other side, so that Meg was facing the sun. I normally don’t like shooting from this vantage point because everything is just too evenly warm and golden. But the sun was really fading by then, lessening the degree of golden-ness, and I post-processed the image to black and white which I thought looked really great.

I think she looks posed but relaxed and natural.

This is the shot she chose to give her friend. I thought she looked great in all the shots, but this was my fave.

Now that I’ve posted photos I guess it’s only fair now to post some photos of myself that Meg took. I look extremely silly in these. And stoned in one. It really is difficult being in front of the camera, especially without direction!

Makes me appreciate even more just how much a photographer needs to do in order to get great pictures – and lot of it has nothing to do with a camera.