Portrait with artificial light.

I told you before that I had to make an assignment for the photo club ... a portrait with artificial light. And that it is totally out of my comfort zone for me to do that. Why? So often I have something in mind that I want to make, but ... I find it incredibly difficult to instruct people the way I see it in my mind. Yes, it is one thing that I have been struggling with for a long time, and which has ensured that I mainly started photographing animals. But like I said before, I wanted to push my limits ... and do new things. That is one of the reasons why I went to the photo club. And this assignment was a start.

If I thought this was difficult ... I'd better prepare myself.

But if I had already thought that this was difficult, I was still very wrong. The portrait I took for the assignment was still comfortable, as I did it with a friend. But during the next club night after taking my portrait photos, we had the presentation of the photos. And that was not all, we also had a DIY evening. So everyone was kindly requested to bring his / her camera, AND something from a flashlight or something similar. And the intention of that DIY evening was that we were going to take portait photos with the only light sources to be the lamps that everyone had to bring. Models were invited especially for this evening. Oh my gosh ... I really had to push my limits for that. Photograph and instruct completely strangers to me.

It's been a long time wish though.

Now I have always hoped to be able to work with models, and at the same time I have always been reluctant. Because despite the fact that they often know themselves how they will look best in a photograph, it is certainly the intention that I, as a photographer, can direct them to be able to take the photograph that I have in mind. So I immediately ran into my own 'limitation' in the first DIY evening. Yet despite that ... I was really looking forward to it.

Push those boundaries!

Why? Precisely to push those boundaries, and through the experience of other members, including a number of people who have earned their income from photography for years, you can learn a lot. And that is what I was and am looking for.

No studio flashes needed.

An important learning point for me was that I could put a thought aside. You don't need a professional studio and accompanying studio flash units to be able to photograph a beautiful portrait. And of course I know very well that you can also photograph beautiful portraits in daylight, and that certainly on a cloudy day the sunlight is spread evenly through the clouds. But what if it is dark, and you have to make a portrait ... without studio flashes, without daylight lamps ... ?? Well, I already learned that, then you grab one or more flashlights and take pictures and have fun. Because believe it or not, you can also make beautiful portraits with it.

What a joy to do!

Totally pulled out of my comfort zone, totally not what I'm used to doing ... and what I enjoyed. Yes the beginning was awkward. Tell someone what I want, and I still have a lot to learn. But the most important thing is for now, for such first times after a long time ... I did it again! And by doing I will keep getting further.

And by doing this will certainly help to push my photography boundaries further.