Planning First Photo Shoot
My first photoshoot will be a simple one to start off with, based simply on environmental portraits. On Saturday I am planning to meet my friend Jacob Smith, an accomplished surfer and free diver, at the beach so that I can take photos of him in his environment. I was originally planning on taking photos of him in the water as he is surfing but this weekend the winds will be too high for him to be able to surf. We may instead be able to try some free diving but I am not sure how this will turn out in underwater photographs because I am not confident with underwater photography. For on land photographs I will be using my Nikon D5200 but as this is not waterproof so I will not be taking it into the water with me. Instead I will be taking my MotorMarine II EX by Sea&Sea.
This is a 35mm film camera that I got for free and had repaired. I have had very little experience with using this camera but I have shot film before so I know what to expect from the limitations of film. Even if all of the photographs that I take with this camera turn out bady I should still have photographs that I will take back on land with my digital camera to use. In the water I am planning to be using ISO 400 film or ISO 200 depending on the lighting that day. If it is overcast or there is not direct sunlight then I will use the 400 but if there is direct sunlight then I will use the 200. For the photos above the water/on dry land I will be trying to emulate the work of Anthony Kurtz that I looked at for my environmental portraiture moodboard. His photographs are not overly set up like Bielaski and Sander’s work, the more natural feel to them is a method that I prefer. However for the photographs just above the water’s surface then I will be trying to emulate the work of Brooks Sterling. He is a lifestyle photographer and art director living in southern California. His work is mostly centered around surfer/skater culture in Southern California and he uses a mix of film and digital. I spoke to him recently and he gave me some tips for shooting in the surf like this so hopefully I will be able to get some nice photos. Link to his website and Instagram.
As a backup for this, I am also planning to go out with some of my other friends into some environments that they are not used to. This will give me a chance to photograph people discovering new environments which is often hard to do in Jersey because it is so small. But we have previously found somewhere that we did not know existed and are going to be going back there to have a proper look around. It is in St. Aubins and is near to the beach, on the south coast like this the lighting should be very good and as I have no idea what the place looks like myself the photos will be a reaction of me experiencing this new environment too.