Truth moment: I hated the entire first quarter of the shots I took of this maternity session. The light was too harsh, the wind was gusting, her hair was flying everywhere (not her fault) and I just wasn’t happy with anything we got. I knew it in the moment but I couldn’t say that to my clients because that would’ve flustered them and made them question whether I knew what I was doing. Honestly? Sometimes that happens…sometimes it just doesn’t work. Sometimes the conditions are *not* perfect and I, as your photographer, have to just grin, bear it, trust the process and move on.
About half an hour in, everything started clicking. The sun lowered a little bit in the sky and the light became perfect and diffused. Because the lighting was now ideal, the locations became gorgeous (yes, lighting really does make that big of a difference). Not only that, but in the half hour we had already spent with one another, Carmen and Steve had started to become more comfortable with each other, with me, with the posing…it all began to click. Sometimes it just doesn’t work…until it does. And here is where my message gets important.
No matter how many times I’ve shot at a given location, no matter what the forecast promised to be, no matter how perfect the outfit seemed before the shoot, things happen. Sometimes it just doesn’t work, no matter how well we’ve planned. The secret is to just keep going and trust your photographer. I, of course, didn’t tell Carmen and Steve that I wasn’t happy with what we were initially getting. There was nothing they could do about it and that knowledge would only serve to make them wonder if they had made the right choice hiring me.
In the end, if the trust is there and the photographer is worth her salt, the photos that result are what you see here. Things don’t have to start perfectly and it’s okay if sometimes it just doesn’t work – it will always turn around.
Liz Viernes Photography is based near White Oak, Maryland, and specializes in maternity, fresh 48, posed and lifestyle newborns and first year milestone portraits.
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