Jason Tag Photography

** Disclaimer**
I am not an expert on photography or artistic nudes, nor do I want to be. The day I become an expert in either of these is the day I have to hang up my camera and become an accountant. In doing so all fun and artistic growth would cease because it’s the mistakes which teach us the most important lessons and they challenge and push us to be better. I offer the following post to talk about what I learned on the shoot. Your perspective may be different from mine. With that said…

** End Disclaimer **

Now that I’ve had some time to digest everything and take a look at the shots…Overall I would say that the shoot went very well. First of all the location was completely new to me. I need to give credit to the model for choosing this location. I had never been there before and it was fun to discover it for the first time as we shot. This may seem like a big no-no in the world of professional photography but it meant that I had fresh eyes and was able to see the location without re-hashing any old ideas. I was also blown away by the amount of options that the location offered. From a large sturdy maze of tree branches on the beach to tree roots and forest bramble. And then when you add the sun, sand, surf, and a beautiful model, this place became a truly remarkable backdrop for the shoot.  Thanks to the model for choosing such a wonderful location.

The second lesson learned for me was to make sure your prepared with ideas. I came packed lite in this department as I was unsure of what to expect. But once I began to feel comfortable working with the model the ideas began to flow. It helped tremendously that I was working with a model who has a great eye for photography and knows what will look great.

On the same note, I was uneasy at first with explaining what I wanted her to do. “Tilt your head back”, “arms up”, these simple words escaped my brain in the beginning because I was nervous. After I had had taken 50 or so shots, So I just let it go and concentrated on the location and what was in my viewfinder and once I did that it seemed that that’s when things really got rolling.

There were a lot of other things learned that day but the last lesson I am going to share has to do with the idea of commercial photography vs. artistic photography. Because this was a purely artistic endeavor, we were free to play and do what we wanted instead of sticking to a shot list. A such the shoot was very loose and we pretty much did what felt good and what we thought might look good. Most of the time that worked out but a few times it didn’t. Proof that you need more than just a pretty woman and a camera to create great images. It was fun to try things even if they didn’t work because if we hadn’t tried we be kicking ourselves in the butt wishing we had.

Conclusion: Both Model and Photographer had a great time. I got a whole bunch of good images and I learned something about something. In the end, that’s all that matters to me.