Studio portraiture made easy: Studio Stay-and-Play

Studio portraiture made easy: Studio Stay-and-Play

For a few months now, I’ve been quietly running a series of informal one-on-one photo workshops under the banner of Studio Stay-and-Play.

Studio Stay-and-Play conbines a fun studio photoshoot with a personalised guided introduction to studio photography. It’s easy to do, very accessible, and available for pretty much anyone with a DSLR and a love for portrait photography!

Many beginning photographers enjoy taking portraits – of long-suffering partners, spouses, family, mates, acquaintances, you name it. However, few enthusiast photographers have access to a studio, much less studio lighting. Studio Stay-and-Play (SSP) lets beginning photographers experience and enjoy studio portrait photography without getting too bogged down in the technical details.

Photographers bring along their unsuspecting victims… err… I mean beloved partners/spouses, relatives, kids or friends to the studio, and photograph them using studio lights and backdrops, while being guided in studio lighting setup and techniques by me!

Introducing the Mitchells!

The Mitchells came by today for their SSP session. Dad, Brad, is an avid photographer. While the session had been designed for young Thomas, 7, who was going to take photographs of his Mum and Dad with Dad’s mighty DSLR, everyone ended up having a go as photographer and model.

Out came the props and it didn’t take long for Thomas’s parents to be sporting various props, including a fedora, various lengths of textiles and a bouquet of (plastic) flowers!

During the session, I learned that the Mitchells had never had a family photo done since Brad married Sallyanne — so I took a couple of turns behind Brad’s DSLR and snapped some fun family portraits for them.

Thomas took to art direction like a pro – giving his folks very clear directions on how to pose and where to look! When it came time for Brad and Sallyanne to take control of the camera, young Thomas bounced into action as the star of the show!

Here are some shots from the Mitchells’ turn at the studio!