Picking out the location for each shoot can quite often be a head-scratcher for me. My mind constantly "sees" places to shoot and since I like to customize each session based on who I am photographing and what they had in mind - then the process of elimination begins. Do you want trees and green, urban and architectural, or bright, playful and colorful? I rarely like to go to the same places - it can get stagnant and unoriginal for me. I will shoot somewhere several times and then it is time for me to find a new challenge, see and explore something new.
Some places I see may not be the friendliest spots for the clients with new walkers, or the clients with big groups, as these spots may have high traffic or visibility or too much hiking involved. So each time a session comes around we have to come up with what they had in mind and what works for their particular needs. So I ask questions to each client, "do you know someone with land, a barn, cool fence?", "is your family home or yard somewhere you would want to cherish or capture?", "what is something that your family enjoys doing together?". These questions help me to customize the location.
Some clients come to me knowing exactly what they want and exactly where they want to shoot. This senior told me of this location and I just trusted her and went to where she led me. We are talking deep woods, back road, total sticks of Arkansas location. I would have never found this gem of a spot had I not asked the question of where she had in mind. Many people leave it to me, but my jaw drops when I am led to a spot like this. Diamond in the rough....... Thx HM for your great eye!
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