Last week I shot a portrait for a family in my neighborhood. This is something I should probably begin doing a lot more. Of the various models one can use to run a photography business, selling landscape photos is not the most lucrative. There’s no question that roaming through forests, over mountains, and walking through meadows of wildflowers is where my heart lays. That is where my passion has always been. But one must also pay the bills. Since I can’t tap the family budget to support the photo habit, I’m left to generate income where I can. My main source of revenue is shooting archival photographs of dramatic productions in local theatres. On occasion, I’m asked to shoot a senior portrait, engagement announcement, or family portrait. Most of these requests come from within my own family network or neighborhood contacts. I enjoyed my time with this family Saturday evening. I’m currently taking a 12-week course in ‘Growing my Business” and it has me thinking about how I might expand my marketing and find new clients. The problem is, I don’t want to accelerate too much or grow too big. Just a wee-little growth would suit me just fine.

So, back to the family portrait shoot. Saturday was an overcast and cloudy day. From the time I got up in the morning, on through the afternoon we had diffuse light. I felt that while this wasn’t the best condition for photographing the landscape, it would serve well for a family portrait. I would have soft and even light for capturing faces. We planned to meet at 6:30pm and drive to a meadow on a local mountain I’d previously recommended to them. Our plan held good. On the way up the mountain, I looked out to the west, over Utah Lake and noticed the sky was clearing and that we would likely have the possibility for some nice sunset light. This started to get me more excited. We had a rough 3-mile dirt road to drive over before arriving at our site. Before, when it was cloudy I wasn’t in a hurry. I felt we had ample time to manage the diffuse lighting. With the chance of interacting with the setting sun, I became more anxious and felt compelled to hurry to set up my speed light. From where we parked the car we had a 10-minute walk onto the meadow to a location where Mt. Timpanogos would provide a stunning backdrop. I quickly set up my go-to lighting, a single speed light with a shoot through umbrella. I attached my wireless trigger for the strobe, under-exposed the background, adjusted the output of the flash for the proper exposure and I was ready in another 10 minutes. By now the sun was dipping below the cloud deck and I was getting streaks of warm light washing across the landscape. I had highlights on the mountain, the clouds were lighting up from underneath, the grass in the meadow was taking on a warm glow, and we were entering that brief but magical time when the lighting is making a star appearance. The next 30 minutes was a rush of moving people in and out of the frame since they wanted different combinations and arrangements. With the light constantly changing I was forced to repeatedly adjust my exposure on the background and then compensate with the strobe. The one thing I couldn’t pay strict attention to was the changing color balance. Since I was shooting in RAW, I felt that could easily be managed in post-production, so I let that slide. For the last 10 minutes of good light, the sun made a grand finale burst of bright color on the western horizon. We reoriented the family and quickly shot additional compositions against the last gasps of daylight.

Sure, I would have enjoyed applying my talents to capturing the landscape that evening. But the truth is, without that appointment I probably wouldn’t have been out shooting at all. It was an enjoyable way to spend my time with dear friends from my neighborhood. Today we have heavy rain, but it should be clearing in the afternoon. With fall in the air, the change bodes well for capturing autumn colors. Today I can be a landscape photographer and I can chase that evening light with forests of red, orange, and yellow. I only have another six hours to make my plans. Where will I go?