SA Photoblog

This is my second attempt at writing long posts documenting photoshoot sessions, so if you like this, let me know!

So early February I scheduled a shoot with Mina to get some pictures of her Sakura con masquerade outfit, because she thought the chances are she won’t get any at the convention. To make the shoot even more appealing, Mina decided to use a cemetery as the location for the shoot. Luckily, the shoot too place during the day, and I don’t believe in “spirits” anyway. I was however half expecting ghosts to showing up in the pictures I took though.

Since it’s my first shoot at a cemetery, and judging from her slightly gloomy outfit (mostly maroon and black color), I decided to shoot and post process from a darker,gloomier perspective.

It’s quite interesting to shoot gloomy pictures in broad daylight, believe it or not. The conflicting elements (dark, gloomy cemetery showered by bright, happy sunlight) really created a whole difference feeling to the images that otherwise would not be as powerful a statement.

Shooting with Mina has always been fun. It is always that confidence and wealthy knowledge of posing that help make it possible to produce stunning images. I used to believe that in order to create an epic image, 100% is about the photographer’s skill. But now, I think it’s more about 50-50: 50% models’ skills to pose / act, and 50% photographers’ ability to capture the moment.

Back to the shoot.

Our roughly 2-hour shoot was composed of mostly shots on the walkway. We tried to avoid the gravestone area for apparent reasons. If I have the chance to shoot at a cemetery again, I would probably do the same. But if I can change anything location wise, it would be to shoot at a cemetery that is not right by a heavily used street. It was quite difficult to compose shots when you see cars driving by in the background…doesn’t add to the picture at all, at least not the kind of effect we were looking for.

In addition to our little adventure to the cemetery (rest in peace, spirits), I also processed this set a little heavier, mainly to explore and experiment with different effects and stuff like that. There are merits of sticking to the original as much as possible, but adding some effect to images can sometimes enhance the “experience”. In the end, we (photographers) are artists, and when it comes to creating art, there is no right or wrong.

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