The Strobist Groups
I've found that working with other more experienced photographers has been a god send. Especially at the height of the entire Strobist craze(2006-2010). There were always groups of photographers willing to pool together resources ie, exotic lens and flashes you have never seen before or would probably never venture upon otherwise. With so much already in place, for the most part all you really had to do was show up with some basic strobist knowledge and your camera. There more then likely was a model (No need to worry if no model were on hand you would just shoot each other) and on those extra special meetup days perhaps someone was able to wrestle up makeup and possibly hair. Your job was basically to show up, share if you got'em and shoot.
The Workshops/Shoot Groups
My second and probably most enjoyable meetup for me is the workshop type of meet. Pay your pound of flesh, bring your camera and shoot. The workshop, depending on the fee and setup, usually will have hair and makeup ready for you. There will almost more then surely be 2-3 people with some higher level of expertise guiding the workshop, and giving you and the model directions on how she should pose, where the light should be and how you should take the image for the best results. The only downside is usually your standing on a line waiting your turn to shoot, or there are a bunch of photographers all standing around trying to get the models attention all at the same time. If you see the correlation between the two examples, bring camera and shoot not much else need apply.
The Self Setup Photoshoot
Having been involved with both types of shoots mentioned above at one time in my photographic follies, I still worked very closely with some good friends during the duration of my photographic years. My friend pretty much always got the model and had either hair and makeup artist ready to go. This is excellent until the time comes for you to stand on your own two feet.
I believe I've blogged about this in the past but I'm not to sure, so I will touch on it briefly. In a nutshell my 1st solo photoshoot was a disaster. I located a model (Which trying on model mayhem can be a job and a blog post by itself), makeup artist and hairstylist. There were a few weeks of trying to wrangle everyone's schedule etc.. I finally get everything together and the very last minute ( I mean five minutes before the makeup artist should be arriving) the makeup artist now tells me that she's out of town and won't be able to make the shoot. From that moment the hairstylist doesn't want to do any work and the model also is not feeling up to the challenge. Did I mention that I also had another model en route about 4 or 5 friends who I also wanted to share the experience with? Yeah it was a total disaster.
This experience shook my confidence to say the least. At this point I was ready to give up on photography all together. I'd just wasted money renting a small but thankfully affordable studio, lugged a ton of gear across town and invited friends who at the last minute told the shoot was off and just most likely destroyed some great relationships that I had been working on putting together for a few weeks. So, after sitting around and feeling sorry for myself, I decided that it was time to dust of the hurt and push forward. I vowed to learn from mistakes made from the last shoot.
Mistakes learned From Failure
Make sure everyone is in the same geographic location
They say if you learn from your mistakes then there is no true failure. The first Lesson I learned is to make sure everyone is in the same time zone, coast and hopefully the same state and Provence. Granted, things happen. Things come up and people make excuses when they want to get out of things. However, I totally believe that the makeup artist was where she said she was. She claimed that her flight from L.A had been delayed and would not be able to make it. The shoot was in nyc. That's fair. Everyone has a career and things and places to go and do, but if you have a shoot the next day it would make sense and seem professional to tell the photog that your working out of town. If she would have shared that key info with me I would have thanked her and found someone else as a backup or moved on completely. It may sound silly but try to make sure everyone is in town and or has any travel plans just prior to your shoot. It could save you a world of headache and disappointment.
Try not to bring every piece of gear that you own
For the shoot that never happened, I believe I came with everything and the kitchen sink. I had softboxes, grids, beauty dish, strip lights, octaboxes. Not to mention all flavor of lightstands and every lens that I owned at the time. It was heavy, difficult to carry and had to make several trips back and forth, and lets not forget the fact that I never got to use any of it. one-hundred plus pounds of gear went unused that day. What did I learn? Well, firstly you should have some idea of what you would like to accomplish during the shoot day and what modifiers you will need to complete the task, and that doesn't mean every light modifier in your arsenal. I would say for a first shoot, 1-2 light mods at best. This will force you to learn to work with what you have and keep you on track so you can only stray so far off the grid.
Consider not buying gear for awhile and put money towards the shoot
Now this may be a hard one for many. Some people may not have the extra funds or would rather buy another piece of gear. My friends, with all the gear and lighting crap that I have, I have yet to make a picture or series of images that has bought riches and celebrity to my door. Maybe the credit card company and bill collectors. You can have all the gear in the world but if you have just that extra pop of something it may just push your image(s) over the edge.
That extra that I speak of is hair and makeup and possibly a stylist. If your a female photog with a sense of fashion or a guy with a sense of fashion for the most part you can wing the clothing, but hair and make up can add that 3rd or 4th dimension to your images. I see it this way, had I spent less money on gear and put a few $$$ aside to actually pay for hair and makeup I'm pretty sure that makeup artist would have showed up that day or would have provided much better and timely info about her whereabouts.
My mistake was the great "TF" Time for prints or Time for F*#k . You probably wouldn't believe the horror stories I hear all the time about tf shoots, mines included. However, once money is involved, The dynamics start to change. People will more than likely be reliable. If you can, it may cost a few extra dollars, but try to find someone who can do hair and makeup this way you need only rely on a single individual as opposed to two. On my second shoot which to me was a semi success, I had a dress designed and a makeup artist. We were in contact during the entire planning of the shoot up until we meet at the shoot location.
If your pressed for cash and are unable to afford hair and makeup, I would still try to find someone on model mayhem, but try to meet them before hand to get a sense of what type of people you are dealing with. Do they seem reliable? did they show up on time at your meeting? Also, if you can try to find people they have worked with in the past and see if you can get any info on them or there work and or reliability.
Closing Thoughts
As first mentioned it can be a god send working in strobist type groups or with friends and workshops, but this gift can also be a curse. You should try and do them all, but you should also start slowly to venture out and try working on your own shoots. I believe you will learn so much more about the workings of photography and the industry. Working on your own will at first produce some failures which will only serve to make you a stronger and more resilient person and photographer. Also, if you are in a group setting or with friends try to step up and take the lead sometimes. Give the model direction or try to get the stylist or hair and makeup for the shoot. I learned a lot from my friend and mentor over the years, but I always hid behind his shadow during shoots. This aided in handicapping me for awhile, but I now shoot mostly alone or with the aide of a good friend or assistant but I take the lead. If just one person reading this finds this helpful or has been in a similar situation then putting these words to screen were well worth it. Take care and remember keep shooting learning and growing.
