Last weekend I met up for a collaborative test shoot with photographer Jennifer Buchanan of Sunshine Soul Photography. Jennifer specialises in couture portraits of high school seniors, and is great at producing timeless images of the young ladies before they venture out into the big world.

Jennifer arranged for two high school students Sierra and Savannah (and their parents) to meet up with us in Motobu. In exchange for their time, we’d give them a few photos they’ll hopefully love.

Savannah – Senior portraits collaborative test shoot.

Jennifer and I took turns photographing the girls. We offered each other tips, watched how we posed the “clients,” compared the gear we use, but above all we could just practice.

Practice, practice, practice.

Savannah – Senior portraits collaborative test shoot.

Practice, and a lot of it, is required to become proficient at any skill. One theory states that 10,000 hours of “deliberate practice” is required to master something. Concert musicians are well known for playing hour after hour after hour. (Two thumbs up for the movie Whiplash).

Sierra – Senior portraits collaborative test shoot.

Sometimes it’s not the gear that is holding us back, but the limited amount of time that we spend practicing with it.   I used to have a purple Washburn electric guitar, but wasn’t getting the sound I wanted. I upgraded to a beautiful fiesta red Fender Stratocaster with  maple fretboard, and I still couldn’t play like Buddy Holly, Eric Clapton or Mark Knopfler. The lack of callouses on my fingers was a pretty good indication of where my real problem lay.   

Sierra – Senior portraits collaborative test shoot.

10,000 hours of practice may not be realistic, or even necessary to achieve your goals. But without regularly picking up the camera, progress is always going to be slow or nonexistent.  As a photographer there is so much to learn, so much to practice, and so much room for improvement. One tip would be to stop spending so much time browsing through the reviews of gear, and get out there and take photos.

Sierra – Senior portraits collaborative test shoot.

Thank you to Savannah, Sierra and their parents for coming up to Motobu for the shoot. Thanks to my assistant Keith for working as a voice activated light stand. A huge thanks to Jennifer for suggesting the idea it was great hanging out with you again.

A few things I learned on the shoot.

You can work wonders with a big reflector. Especially to create very soft light across the entire face.

Watch the shape of hands. Are they relaxed, posed, flat to the camera or side on.

Cosmos flowers bloom for around 2 weeks, but different parts of a field  can bloom at different times. There may still be a section with beautiful flowers when other sections just have dead heads.

Gear used 

Pentax 645Z, 90mm 2.8   Profoto B1 with OCF beauty dish white, large white reflector.