So far this year I shot a whole lot of portrait sessions. A lot lot. It is a never-ending cycle of shoot-edit-deliver-shoot-edit-deliver-repeat and I barely have the time to do more than that. It’s important to take a step back sometimes and critically look at my work and ask myself: Do I even like my pictures? Am I developing new skills or is my work stagnating? Am I always doing the same or am I still challenging myself? It is important to know this so I know what I want to change in the future.
One great exercise is to pick my favourite pictures, because it shows me what to aim for and what I want to do more of. I somehow narrowed my personal favourites down to 7, which is roughly one photo out of 700.
What I like about this picture is the mood it creates. It has a whimsical feel to it with the hazy, diffused morning sunrise light and the balloons and colouring give it an almost fantasy-like quality.
I love the colourful city lights that serve as backdrop for this photograph. I usually never shoot after sunset so this was an experiment. I like this photo just for the fact that I challenged myself and tried something different that I’m usually uncomfortable with. Also, can we take a second and appreciate how beautifully dressed my clients are in this photo? It wouldn’t have worked that well if they were just wearing joggers.
This was also challenging, because it was my first complete portrait session in my home-studio without the usual outdoor backdrops. The sole focus had to be the posing and facial expressions. It was a really different experience and I loved it. I like the simplicity in this picture and how this pose shows the femininity and beauty of pregnancy in a really nice way.
I love working with movement in my photos because it looks more natural and alive somehow. Apart from the stunning dress (again, this photo wouldn’t be the same without the client’s outfit choice) I like how the light shines through the top layer of the dress and I like the swirly bokeh (blurry backdrop) and the colour contrast between the red and green.
Again, this is result of experimenting: Usually I shoot with very high apertures (which result in a very blurry background), whereas this photo is shot with a very low aperture which gives the photo a lot of depth of field and also results in the distinguishable sun rays.
I like this photo for the same reasons like the photo above. Playing with low apertures, beautiful subject, interesting architecture and amazing sun light.
I love the affection the mum and her child express here. It is just so adorable and cute and melts my heart a little bit each time when I look at this photo. I also really like the golden sunset back-light and soft, creamy colours. This photo didn’t present a challenge for me – in fact, this is right in the center of my warm and cosy comfort zone and I love it.
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