Photo Friday: The Three (Positive) Extremes of Planning

Welcome to the first Photo Friday post on In Progress. I’ve not been able to do much personal work recently, as I’ve been working on things for clients (a beautiful wedding, for example, a few images will be appearing in a Photo Friday near you once they have been delivered to the couple – I can’t wait to share them!). So, this week I decided to remedy the situation.

Mythos has been the most recent of my personal shoots and I think demonstrates the three (positive) extremes of planning. The idea began when I received a beautiful hand-crafted mask from the highly talented Silvie, I instantly knew who I needed to model it; I am lucky enough to have some very co-operative and very beautiful friends (often with wonderful hairstyles) and Hannah was lovely enough to take half an hour or so out of her day to allow me to get the images I needed. I tend to take longer with my shoots but this happened quickly, my mind had already decided two of the images I wanted and the third (first, technically) was a spur of the moment ‘this-set-needs-to-include-three-images’ impulse as I was walking to the location. 

So, the three positive extremes of planning (perhaps not the only three but the three I encounter the most):

The Impulse Plan, planned only a few moments in advance. This image, as above written above, was not really planned. As I walked to the shoot, I decided I wanted an image that focussed on the face behind the mask without revealing it. I shot it very quickly; it was mainly in the editing that this image took shape. The editing was not at all planned, it was very experimental. It’s perhaps not what I would suggest when walking into a conceptual shoot, a shoot all about the ‘idea’, but instinctive planning definitely has its place.

The Exactly-As-You-Planned-It Plan. This image looks exactly how I pictured it, down to the editing, the angles and the lighting. I knew exactly what I wanted from it and I think it was that certainty that made it happen. Things don’t always end up how you plan them, there are so many things that can go wrong, especially on location but when it does, it feels good. This is my favourite image of this set. Everything about it was part of my plan. (Please note: I do not always write or draw out my plans, sometimes they are purely mental, as this one was.) I think it is very rare to have an image happen exactly as you planned it but that doesn’t make it any less wonderful when it does. It could only make it more wonderful.

The Not-Exactly-But-Better Plan. After watching season 3, episode 3 of [Framed] and being introduced to the beautiful image created by Brooke Shaden, I knew that I had to do something along that vein with the mask. I envisioned a god. The mask was always in the middle of her back but originally she was only going to have the one set of arms. I thought I had the perfect idea, I thought I had it in my head exactly how I wanted it but then when I was with Hannah and we were taking the shots, I wasn’t sure how I wanted her arms – I didn’t even shoot my original pose idea, it went out of the window when the possibility of giving her more limbs and I am very glad it did. Hannah was amazing at moving her hands, my favourite of her hand poses are not actually in the final image (I might use them in something else, we’ll see). With each pose change, I could see this creature, feminine, powerful and impossible and I knew that despite my plan (which I had mused over for days) it was exactly what I wanted.

I owe a lot of the editing inspiration in this set to Brooke Shaden, I think. Miss Aniela was also on my mind when thinking about pre-existing images with multiple limbs. Both are incredible artists and should definitely be checked out.

So, that was my experience. Have you had any instances where planning has given you completely unexpected results? Do you plan or do you let instinct dictate your images? How much detail do you put into your plans if you use them?