I tried to read as much as I could about negotiating fees and determining what rights would convey and those I would retain. I’m sure, like many others, my first contract negotiation was generous. I don’t mind, though. The bigger picture for me is that this shoot marks, what I hope is, a step in the direction I would like my professional photography career to take.  That is, editorial/commercial photography.

Once all the paperwork was taken care of, my thoughts immediately turned to executing the shoot. I’ve been to a few photography studios recently, but, thankfully, my friend Sarah Mattingly graciously let me do the shoot in her studio. Not only did Sarah allow me use the space, she bent over backwards to help me set up and using studio lighting. I cannot thank Sarah enough for all her help and encouragement! While I can’t reveal the images from the shoot yet, I should be able to post some soon, or at least provide a link to client’s site where they will be used.

Inspired by Chase Jarvis, here are some videos shot on the day of the shoot, captured on my Canon G10. (I am making a mental note to pick up a Flip HD camera–or borrow my friend’s D90. The image perfectionist in me would like the video quality to be better.)

My intent was to shoot some behind-the-scenes shots to share my experience. Naturally, I got a little caught up in the shoot and didn’t do as much video as I had hoped. You’ll notice that I didn’t get to show you what gear I was working with.

I did all the shots with my Nikon D300. I had several lenses with me, but ended up shooting with a Nikon 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6G IF-ED. I kept the focal length nearly 50mm. (I SO need to get a 50mm 1.4!) Sarah’s beautiful studio is equipped with a number of AlienBees flash units and Pocket Wizard transmitters. We used three flash units on the shoot. One unit was used exclusively on the near-white studio wall to produce a clean white background.

On an aside, I must admit that I engaged in a fair amount of daydreaming while in Sarah’s studio. Someday, I would love to have a space like hers to call my own.

All told, I shot about 300 images. I narrowed the number down to 60 for the client’s contact sheets. I’m happy to report that the client was extremely happy with the proofs and asked for final processing of nearly 1/2 of the images provided.

What a great way to end 2009! I am hope this is just the beginning of what will be many opportunities in 2010.

Happy New Year!