Norq From Ork

‘Can you take the photo standing on a step ladder for a good angle? Use a good filter and hide all my chins?’

‘I tend to assume that for everybody, but you’d be amazed at what good lighting and a good camera can produce’

Yeah Dave but there are limits to what a fancy camera and pop up sun can achieve and I may just be about to stretch yours to the limit……

I had popped down to our friendly neighbourhood photographer Dave Rendall Photography for a portrait photo.  I wanted something a bit more professional for my blog/social networking sites.  I’m getting regular advice as I branch out with my writing  and one of the points was if you wanted to be treated as a professional you need to be professional.  My current photos are all very nice but tend to make me look like I would rather be paid in Prosecco units than money, (actually not a bad idea.) Dave was doing a portrait deal and I decided to take him up on it. However the down side was I feel rather self conscious having my photo taken and tend to need the aforementioned Prosecco units to make me agree.  I’m usually barking orders first like ‘just my head and shoulders, don’t get my chins, hold the camera UP for goodness sake!’ followed by ‘urgh’

I’m not alone apparently and getting people to relax for their photo can be a challenge. While Dave snapped away we chatted about techniques he used to bring out the best in people (He almost had to stand on the kitchen work top to get the right light v distance) and after using the pop up sun, a gigantic plug in flash, we moved onto the subject of old cameras.

I was taken back to the days when we had a little box flash that sat on top of the camera.  Once the flash was blown it would spin round to use the next one.  Remember them? Then there was disc cameras which became fashionable when I was a teenager.  A flat looking camera with a film that was literally on a disc, not one that you had to thread through from one side to the other. Whatever camera you had from that era you had to use up the film before sending it away (with a cheque) and waiting a week for your prints to return.   You then went through to see how many successful ones you had taken with heads not cut off, or stickers on them due to over exposure or shaky hand. On a good day you maybe had half that wouldn’t be consigned to the bin.

Before I knew it we were finished and judging by the instant Facebook response when I put it up he’s done a good job. I still feel self conscious but I have very encouraging friends and as Burns wrote, we often fail to see ourselves as others see us.

I couldn’t let the moment pass without taking a snap of my day. See if you can work out which photo he took and which one I did. In the old days one would’ve  had a sticker on it, and one would most definitely have not. Thanks Dave.