The First Shoot Ever

As with anything, whenever you start getting into a new hobby, the very first thing you do is to try to devour all the information you possibly can.  You become obsessed and all you think about 24/7 is this one subject.

I must have spent 6 hours a day for weeks on end learning about the exposure triangle. Even though I spent so much time watching videos, I probably only retained about 10% of the information.

Nothing made it as obvious as this shoot I did.

Some dude reached out to me on Instagram. I posted a photo that he liked and asked whether I was a photographer. Hesitating with the response, I eventually replied and told him “kind of”. He said he was barely starting off as an artist and wanted to see whether he could get some photos done.

He offered me a couple of bucks but I declined. I told him I’d do it for free but to not expect them to be amazing, that I was barely starting off too and this would be my first shoot as well.

We both agreed to just go out and see what we could get.

Shooting with my friends Canon 60D along with his Kit Lens and the 50mm plastic fantastic, I had all the tools I needed for some great shots. Or so I thought.

The problem was that I got so nervous that I kept switching between lenses because every shot I took looked horrible. I had no idea how to pose anyone and it was evident. I asked them to just be natural, but they also had no idea how to do that infant of a camera.

I thought I’d be able to get some photos of the graffiti but the lighting was flat. We climbed some fences and went though some water tunnels that were probably off limits, so the experience was a lot of fun.

By the time we left, I knew I didn’t even have 1 good shot, but it was getting dark and I had no idea how to shoot at night, so I hesitated to ask to keep shooting.

Editing was even harder. I learned so much in this shoot. I know now what I need to work on.