Recently I did a family photo shoot at a Minneapolis park for a family with a 6-month old and a 4-year old. I asked my photographer friend, Judith, to assist me in the photo shoot and I was so glad that she was there to help me kid wrangle, take extra shots, and work with me in the process of choosing which photographs to share with the family.
Not only did she assist me, but our collaboration taught me about where I have growth opportunities in my work as a photographer.
I take lots and lots of shots when I do family photo shoots. The more people in the shot, the more the chances that one of them will have his or her eyes closed, be looking away, or have a funny expression on their face.
Too Much Choice
When it comes time to put together a gallery of photos to show the family it’s important to not overwhelm them with all those shots. I need to pick only the best ones to show them. But I always have a difficult time narrowing down my choices. It surprises me because in many areas of my life I am quite decisive but when showing photographs I hate to take away choices from the family.
“If you choose not to decide you still have made a choice.”
― Neil Peart
In not making the choices and narrowing the number of photographs I show them, I actually make it more difficult for them. When Judith and I got together to go over photos, she was emphatic, “You don’t want to show photos that you are not 100% proud of. They should represent your best work.” And she added, “If you give the family too many choices that can be worse than not enough choices. You are the professional here. You need to use your expertise to guide them.” With her help I was able to be ruthless in eliminating not quite perfect shots and redundant photos. After a while it felt liberating to have narrowed the number down significantly.
Judith pinpointed two growth points for me—owning my expertise and making difficult choices. Making choices does close some doors, but it opens up so many others. Claiming my own expertise and knowledge is an important part of developing my voice as a photographer. It’s not easy, but I am working on it.
More choice is not always better.
But often two heads are better than one.
I learned so much working with Judith on this photo shoot. It was great getting feedback about what was working and what I could improve. I am looking forward to many more collaborations with her.
Do you have someone to collaborate and learn with in your creative work? What growth points are you working on?
May you walk in beauty.
Note: Photos of family used with their permission. Two of the photos shown below (4th and 7th images) were made by Judith.
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