Trail Portraits

While going on a trail run with my 7 year old the other day, I decided that I just had to photograph portraits on that same trail. The lighting was okay, but I knew that at a different time of day the lighting would be phenomenal. I called a friend of mine and asked her to clear her schedule for the weekend, find coordinating clothes for her and her daughters, and come over Sunday morning. And like a fantastic friend, she did just that.

Portraits are very different than triathlons. The action is slower, more intimate. Unlike race day, the choices for locations, times, wardrobes, and poses for portraits are pretty much infinite. One would think the pressure of having to get it right would be less with portraits since I have more control, but those infinite possibilities also mean that I could have picked a better time of day, or a better location. I could have communicated with the subject better with wardrobe choices. I'll be taking a portrait course next session, and I'm sure I'll look back at this photoshoot and think, "Man! How far I've come!" But for today, I'm pretty impressed with what we came up with.