A Day at the Park
Taking on friends as photography clients can be a bit of risk (on both sides). Working with someone is way different than being friends. The dynamic is altered. There are expectations and, uh, you know, money is involved. Things could get weird, maybe… However, the REWARDS of having clients that are friends can be huge. I LOVE working with Annabeth Bondor-Stone and Connor White. They are dream friends and dream clients. They are talented writers as well as performers. I shot their author photo for promotion of their first two books, Shivers! The Pirate Who’s Afraid of Everything and The Pirate Who's Back in Bunny Slippers. When they asked me to take the author photo for their new book, I was pretty darn excited. We met at a nearby park on a lovely day in July, just before golden hour. I used natural light with some fill flash. We shot for about an hour, with different clothing and backgrounds, individual and duo shots. Shortly after the shoot I posted the photos for them so they could pick their favorites to be edited. A little back and forth of suggestions and that was pretty much it. Easy breezy. I wish all gigs could go this smoothly! I think the shoot went well because all three of us were so comfortable and relaxed. We knew what to expect; we had more fun and got better images. While I certainly can’t always work with friends, I think this shoot taught me a helpful lesson about the value of being at ease with a client, friend or not. I am so excited for today’s release of Annabeth and Connor’s new middle grade adventure, Time Tracers. It is written for kids around 8 to 12 and is published by Harper Collins. You can find it on Amazon here: Time Tracers: The Stolen Summers
