Hi! I want to start my FIRST blog by sharing my experience having my portrait taken. As a photographer I am always behind the camera, but at the end of the day I am a regular person who wants to capture my family’s memories just like my clients. I want to share how badly I dropped the ball at my shoot and what I learned from it. You can see the photos below!
About two months ago, one of my favorite local photographers posted on instagram about sunrise sessions at the lake. She was looking for clients who would be interested, and the session would be discounted since it was something she wanted to do. I had been wanting to do family photos so I jumped at the opportunity and replied right away. Only my son, Charlie, and I would be able to make it. My significant other had to work that morning and there was no way he could take time off. I decided to go through with it anyway because as I stated before, I really wanted family photos. I figured we could do another session in the future with the three of us, and this would be a great opportunity to see how other photographers work. I had never had a photo session for myself, at least not since my high school senior session back in 2003. We had to reschedule due to rain, but it would still be only me and Charlie.
Our photographer was very helpful with picking outfits. I decided to go with a white dress I purchased earlier this year when I was in Mexico. It has beautiful detail and went perfectly with the summer theme I had in mind. I found a maxi dress in my closet for my second outfit and matching clothes for Charlie. As the day approached, I was more and more excited, so much so that I struggled to fall asleep sometimes! “I’m too excited to sleep!” We were to arrive at the location at 6:30 am. The day of our shoot I was up around 3:50am. I showered, styled my hair, did my makeup, finally woke up my son around 5am, fed him, packed him a snack, and off we went. We made it right on time. We drove to the designated area at the lake and started our shoot on some rocks by the water. My son was in a great mood and gave our photographer lots of smiles. We walked back to our cars so we could change to our second outfits; it was time for my white dress. We started the second part of our shoot right on the shoreline, we went barefoot, and got our toes in the water. I felt a little off, like my dress wasn’t falling the way it usually would but I figured I was being self conscious and kept on. We finished shooting and got back to our cars.
I took my time settling into the car and watched our photographer drive away. As soon as I started my car, I looked at my dress and it looked like something was on it. I was looking at the inseam of my dress; I had accidentally put it on inside out! My heart dropped and all I could think about is how the second half of my shoot was now wasted. I didn't know what to do. I let my photographer know once I got home, but it was too late; there wasn’t anything we could do at that point. I beat myself up repeatedly during the following two weeks as we waited for our photos to be ready. I felt like a failure. “How could I be so dumb? What a waste of time and money. The pictures are ruined. All the beautiful detail on the dress won’t show anymore.”
Two weeks later we got our digital files. The first outfit photos looked great. The second outfit photos made me cringe a little. The lighting was beautiful, the scenery was perfect, Charlie looked adorable, my dress however, looked awful. The dress is sown to flatter the body, but worn inside out it looked like a plain, unflattering white dress. Imagine wearing a full body bra inside out (definitely not okay). There are some shots that I’ll be able to print for the house, but the whole experience was tainted for me. I learned a lot from it. One, outfits make a huge impact! I will be more proactive and involved in my clients’ outfit ideas/decisions/questions. Two, I never want my clients to feel the way I did. I will now take extra precautions to show them what they look like when we start shooting to make sure everything is the way they want it to be. Things might look perfect to me, but how they feel about themselves is what matters. Three, I got to see another photographer at work. I made a mental note of directions she gave me for poses and plan on using some of them when I shoot. She was great!
I still feel a little sad and beat myself up when I see our photos. Even though they’re beautiful, all I can think about is how they could have been so much better had I worn my dress properly. Anytime something goes wrong in my life, I try to learn from it; otherwise, it seems like such a waste. I feel very vulnerable sharing my shots, but I want y’all to know that I know how you feel when/if we have a session. Thirty one out of thirty five files I received are below for you to view. I hope you enjoy my inside-out dress.
Photos by Ileana Sarai Photography
