Throughout my time at Ciao Bella Photography Studio I have learned a lot about being on shoots and working with clients. Throughout the semester I have learned about what lighting to use for certain shoots and how to get the best photos for the clients. I also learned how to talk to the client to get them to show their true selves in each of the photographs. The first photo shoot I helped with was a Valentine’s Day photo shoot for a 10 year old. I had noticed that once we started playing Taylor Swift (the girl’s favorite artist) she started to get comfortable and loosened up a bit. I also learned with kids it might take more talking to them and making them laugh to get them to show their full self. I watched as Michelle told the girl to position herself and tilt her head or face her body a certain way to get the shot she wanted.
I have also helped her edit some of her photos in Lightroom. By looking though some of her photos and seeing the different shoots I was able to see what the best angle and poses are. I helped edit photos for a Sweet 16, and BTS photos. I have gained new ideas that I didn’t think of before. Another photoshoot I helped with was headshots for three women on the board of Brentwood School. These headshots were for their campaign. I help take Behind the Scenes photos and help fix the women’s hair and help position them if I saw something from my perspective. With this I learned that the gray background worked better than the white. I think that the white background was too bright and it looked like they blended into the background a bit where on the gray they were very sharp looking. They did a variety of different powerful poses to make them look like they mean business. One thing I really liked was that they had someone in the middle and the two women on the sides leaning on the women in the middle. I also helped her set up a Mothers Day scene. She has a staircase with floral garland coming down and wanted to work with that but her only concern was the pole holding her staircase together so I took more of her garland with leaves and put those around the pole and added some of the fake flowers she has within the garland. I then used the white sheer curtain she had as an accent in the background then I put a chair on the right and a table to the left of the chair. I added a pink sheer fabric she had and used it as a table cloth and put a tea set on the table. Finally we used chandeliers she had and hung them from the stairs.
In the second part of the semester I have continued to help her in her studio, edit photos and help her on her shoots. I have helped her look through all of her photos throughout her time as a photographer and picked some of my favorite photos for her website. Another shoot I helped her on was a volleyball photoshoot. The girl wanted headshots for her resume for volleyball tryouts. I helped Michelle set up and take down her equipment, I set up the mattress so the girl could dive onto it and hit the volleyball, I threw the volleyball to the girl so she was able to hit it. I also helped Michelle set up the volleyball net, we had it laying on the girls shoulders and I made sure the net made parallel lines towards the camera. This photoshoot was really fun because I was able to see how to take sports photos. The net shot was really interesting and I would have never thought of that. I went to a baby shower with Michelle to take photos of the presents, food table settings, games, dessert table, photos in front of backdrop, group shots and some candid shots. This was so much fun to do because this is exactly what I hope to do with my own business. I have alway had an interest in taking photos for these types of events. I also helped her take pictures for a bridal shower, just like the baby shower we took similar photos of the bride to be. I really enjoyed this because I was able to continue learning how to navigate these types of events and how to get the most photos out of my time. Throughout my time with Michelle I have learned a lot of things that I will cherish for my career and will take with me throughout my life.
Throughout the last four months I have learned a lot about photography that I will bring with me throughout my career. This opportunity was something that I am very grateful for. It has really shown me that this is what I want to do for the rest of my life. I have always wanted to open my own studio and this gave me an opportunity to see the insights of owning your own studio. Every time I was on these shoots with her it made me excited for the future and my future studio. The shoots have also proven to me that this is exactly where I belong and where I want to be.
Images of shoots/ helping in studio