Shoot (Contacts) Graveyard with Jane Haze

To start with, I felt that this shoot was extremely unsuccessful. The problem was not the same plan as I had for the previously organised photoshoot, as I was determined to shoot at nighttime with a speedlight to create eerie images based on the initial images from the plan, which I had agreed upon with the model. However, this led to overexposed images. The breakdown of communication with the model, Jane Haze, led to tension which is evident in almost every shot. With my previous experience working with models, I had relied on dancers and actors who can command a specific emotion on their faces in the past. I struggled to pose and loosen up my model, which added to the tension.

To address this issue, I took a step back and tried to build a connection with Jane, by asking her what she wanted to communicate to her audience in terms of emotions. She responded with sadness and anger, which was a great starting point that jumped on since I was really struggling at this point of the shoot. I then asked her to think of a sad memory, which led to an image that could have been successful. However, the way she emoted wasn’t the most flattering way to depict her. So, I tried to ease her into a more relaxed state by having her friend engage with the shoot and making jokes to make her laugh. This worked to some extent, and I captured some images that portrayed her in a more positive light, but they didn’t communicate the right atmosphere that she wanted in her images.

Another way I tried to distract her from forcing this tense pose was to have her hold a bouquet of flowers that she brought with her. She mentioned in the previous shoot that she wanted some images with a bunch. One of the images that had this prop could potentially be successful, but I decided to remove the rest of the flowers and only use the baby’s breath since I didn’t want a bulky bouquet to ruin the delicate but eerie effect I was trying to achieve.

Towards the end of the shoot, we moved to another set of graves that we had scouted before we started shooting. I had Jane weave in between the graves towards the camera to attempt to create an engaging image. Unfortunately, the images were overexposed due to the overcast lighting conditions. I tried to change her expression by directing her to imagine she was on a catwalk and be “fierce.” This led to some images that were better than the earlier ones, but still not up to my standards. In hindsight, I could have done more to create a relaxed and comfortable atmosphere for Jane, which would have allowed her to give me more of what I needed and provide her with a strong set of images.