The First Shoot Ever

As with anything, whenever you start getting into a new hobby, the first thing you do is try to devour all the information you possibly can. You become obsessed, and all you think about 24/7 is this one subject.

I must have spent six hours a day for weeks on end learning about the exposure triangle. Even though I watched so many videos, I probably only retained about 10% of the information.

Nothing made that more obvious than this shoot I did.

Some dude reached out to me on Instagram. I had posted a photo he liked, and he asked whether I was a photographer. Hesitating, I eventually replied, “kind of.” He said he was barely starting out as an artist and wanted to see if he could get some photos done.

He offered me a couple of bucks, but I declined. I told him I would do it for free but to not expect them to be amazing. I explained that I was just starting out too, and this would be my first shoot as well.

We both agreed to just go out and see what we could get.

Shooting with my friend’s Canon 60D along with his kit lens and the 50mm plastic fantastic, I thought I had all the tools I needed for some great shots. Or so I thought.

The problem was that I got so nervous I kept switching between lenses because every shot looked horrible. I had no idea how to pose anyone, and it showed. I told him to just be natural, but he also had no idea how to do that in front of a camera.

I thought I would be able to get some shots of the graffiti, but the lighting was flat. We climbed fences and went through some water tunnels that were probably off limits, so at least the experience was a lot of fun.

By the time we left, I knew I did not even have one good shot. It was getting dark, and I had no idea how to shoot at night, so I hesitated to ask if we could keep going.

Editing was even harder. I learned so much from this shoot, and now I know exactly what I need to work on.