Behind the Scenes of a Photo Shoot (+ How to Build Your Photo Story Skills in 1 Hour)

Impact: The Conservation Photography Podcast

#125: A big challenge nature photographers face is feeling overwhelmed by the thought of photographing people.

It's intimidating to capture a moment with someone if you don't have much experience in portrait photography or shooting for a story.

Yet, people are often a crucial element of effective, compelling conservation photo stories. After all, many conservation stories are about volunteers, activists, scientists, community members...

Luckily, there's an easy 1-hour exercise that helps to build confidence and overcome this fear so you can create beautiful stories with your images.

Simply photograph someone you already know doing something. That's it!

I know it sounds too easy, but trust me when I tell you that this exercise will work wonders for you.

In this episode I take you behind the scenes of a short photo shoot of my partner, Nick, doing a craft.

I walk you through:

• why it's important to do zero-pressure photo shoots to build your creative muscles
• the difference between photo stories and photo essays
• exactly what I was thinking as I was photographing so I could make interesting, diverse images
• what I was looking for as I composed images
• working with what you have when you're a "fly on the wall" photographer
• how many images I took in one hour (!!!)
• how I edited a big set of images down to only the best 26

This episode is filled with insights to use next time you pick up the camera -- and I hope it's to do this very exercise! - that'll help you break through barriers you might be feeling about photographing people.

Curious to see the images that I made in this shoot? See some in the shownotes!
Get the full show notes + downloadable transcript + links to resources mentioned at https://ConservationVisuals.com/125

🎓 Get the Mini-Course: 6 Must-Have Shots for a Photo Story
https://conservationvisuals.com/6Shots
📸 QUIZ: What's your hidden visual storyteller personality?
https://conservationvisuals.com/quiz
🗺️ Guide to Conservation Photography
https://conservationvisuals.com/guide