I arrived at Axis at 8:45 Saturday morning and set up my backdrop and umbrella lights. Clay arrived with the Cadenhead kids and once they had changed into costumes, Amy and I got to work. While I took their portraits some of the other dancers began to arrive. First we got the entire group for 10 or 12 shots (to be sure no one blinked or moved!) Then Amy would get each dancer individually into place, pose them and step out of the shot so I could capture it, then we would do another pose, lather, rinse, repeat. Each child got 3 or 4 poses, then would be excused to go change into the next costume. In all we did about 35 children and there were 15 costumes. Neither Amy or I took a lunch break and I was there until 5:30 p.m.
Once home I immediately offloaded the images from my camera to my computer and then made a CD of the original images. I then went and grabbed a bite of supper with my husband! I was starving! :) It turned out the be the last good meal I would eat for a week, however, because Sunday night I got up at 4 a.m. with a stomach virus. All Monday, Tues, and Wednesday I tried to edit and watermark and save the 1300 images I had taken, but I really felt soooooo awful and mostly slept. Finally by Thursday it had gotten better and I worked around the clock until Friday at 6 p.m. when I got them posted online. I promised the parents that the proofs would be up on Friday, June 4th, and so they were! Nothing like getting a job done down to the wire. ;) Here are a few of my favorite shots from the day:
There are a few things I made a mental note of to do differently if (or, rather "when", I hope!) I am asked back to do another one of these portrait shoots. Firstly, I would like to have a list of each dance, with a description of the costume and a list of all the dancers who appear in that number. That would have helped tremendously to keep things running smoothly and in order. Second, I would bring an adult assistant to guard the door and see that all parents stayed out of the photo room. I know they want to see their baby posing for pictures, but the end result is that the child looks at the parent instead of the camera. Very frustrating for me. I would also employ the door guard to keep all other dancers who are not having their image taken OUT!!! At one point around 1 or 2 o'clock, there were 3 different classes of ages 2 - 12 in there just hanging out, waiting for their turn. That equates to a lot of jumping around and chasing and noise and distraction! Amy's set wound up having a hole kicked in it by a group of 7-9 year olds climbing on and messing with it. I don't think I've ever seen her face turn quite that color red before! No one blamed her because the set took her and Clay a long time to build and was a ton of work and the kids had already been told "Do NOT mess with the set!" several times. So, yes, that would be one major thing for next time: Security/crowd control. And thirdly, I would insist on a scheduled lunch break! I was having a blast shooting, but was so starved 10 hours after breakfast when I finally got home!
But all in all, for my first time it was FANTASTIC! The recital is this coming Friday night, so look for a blog soon about how it went!
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