On the birth of our first child we were given by a friend a gift certificate for a photographic family portrait. The deal included one photo shoot in a studio and some prints.
While I had taken thousands of shots of our baby I thought it’d be fun to go in for our photo shoot – after all it was free and I’m always interested to see how other photographers work.
There is a lot that I could say about the shoot and the photographer (I’ll refrain from getting too picky) but one of the main things I came away reflecting upon is how much more I prefer location oriented (or environmental) portrait photography than studio based photography.
While I know a good photographer can work wonders in a studio (I’m not so sure the photographer we had fit in the ‘good’ photographer category) shooting in a location where the subject is comfortable and has some familiarity with has a lot going for it.
By ‘on location’ or ‘environmental’ portraits I mean portraits taken of people in a situation that they live in (work, rest or play) and/or a place that says something about who they are. Before I get into some ‘how to’ tips for taking environmental portraits let me chat a little about ‘why’ I like them.