JH - Story behind the photo

Simple photo - Two smiling people ...

Perhaps not so simple ...



The woman on my left is Judy Herman. She is an accomplished photographer since 1989.

Judy gave a talk on the business side of professional photography.

Her talk was sponsored by the Professional Women Photographers Group. 
I decided to attend her talk on the financial aspects of photography.

The session was three hours of presenting very interesting information. She fielded our questions well, which she took throughout the session.

Ah ... but the photo ...
the smiles ... 
The composition, the friendliness, the warmth.

How did those ingredients come together?

I jumped into the session by asking questions and participating in her presentation.

So first ingredient - engage the person ~ Facilitate the relationship  ~ be open to sharing

The next ingredient ~ Step up ~ deepen the engagement ~ I introduced myself ~ Complimented her on her great presentation.

Chatted a few moments.

Asked her if it was okay to take a selfie ?

The following ingredient ... eliminate distractions. The first image i took had the white stripe of an LCD projector cutting across our faces ...

crumb buns ...

I asked if we could reposition. Judy was very gracious and we stepped to the side.

The smile of two people created by

1. building a relationship
2. being warm, open, respectful
3. repositioning the elements.

Positive take aways

1. I used a Pentax K 1 without battery grip ~ the grip is nice but adds too much bulk and weight. It makes taking selfies difficult.
2. I used central 9 squares to focus ... probably should have used wider grid to determine focus. Wider grid could be used because our two faces were the dominant feature of the space.
3. No flash was used. Used evaluative metering pattern.
4. Two clicks ... was all it took.

Although I thought of skipping the workshop, I was pleased that I attended. I learned a lot.

Thank you Judy for a great professional and entertaining workshop !!!