Artsy,Urban Family Portrait??

[SHavard]

I need some advice...I have been hired to do a family portrait in Austin this weekend. I just found out that she wants an "artsy, non-posed shot in an urban setting." Wow...fun, but my mind is really going blank. The only think I can think of is more of a model shoot, not so much family portrait.

I've asked her to specify non-posed, whether she really means not the traditional poses or more like candid/lifestyle.

Either way, anyone have any ideas???

Thanks,
Sarah

[Holly]

I'm sure you'll get lots of replies to this. Maybe take them downtown, an alley (safe one of course) or street corner. Even them all walking down the street, depending on the size of the family and the size of the sidewalk. You could have them at a bus stop, "waiting" for the bus. Or take them inside a building with a balcony that looks out onto the street. You're in San Antonio, so there should be a lot of opportunities around the river walk area. (never been there myself so can't be more specific - sorry). Anyway, have fun with it! I wish more clients wanted this type of shoot.

[SHavard]

Thanks Wilson...Love your website by the way!!!

Sarah

[CaptainTom]

Sounds like a great challenge.
It sounds like the client has a pretty good idea of what they want.
I would try to get her to help me understand exactly what she has in mind. Sometimes the clent can be your best director. Once she has set the stage, then you can make adjustments according to your photo needs and creative style.

I think some of the shots on your webpage are very much in the line of what they may want.
Did they see your webpage? Maybe they want to duplicate one of the shots...

Good luck, and let us know how it goes.

[evil4blue]

Any old factories or warehouses in the area. There are always cool, urban decay style settings at those places. I like using an old set of stairs, old brick walls, or even train tracks for interesting backgrounds/settings .

Good side lighting will help with the textures found in old walls and such too.

Just some ideas, be sure to post some of your creations once your done. I'd be interested to see what you came up with.

[Holly]

Thanks Wilson...Love your website by the way!!!

Thank you Sarah!

[SHavard]

Originally Posted by evil4blue

Any old factories or warehouses in the area. There are always cool, urban decay style settings at those places. I like using an old set of stairs, old brick walls, or even train tracks for interesting backgrounds/settings .

Good side lighting will help with the textures found in old walls and such too.

Just some ideas, be sure to post some of your creations once your done. I'd be interested to see what you came up with.

I like the stairs idea, against a wall or side of a building. It would be cool to find an old advertising mural...I've got another gig in Austin a few days before, that should give me some time to scout out some neat areas.

Thanks everyone!

Sarah

[brad]

Its posed work, but look at the thread I just posted in people called Jennifer in Deep Ellum... we shot these in East Dallas, a club area known as Deep Ellum.. lots of "urban art" to be found in that area.

[Scott-Tx]

evil4blue... do you know of any such old factories in the dfw area that one can shoot in?

sarah... i would say shoot very fast black and white film to get some grain in the prints. if you have a view camera, play with swinging the lens a little severly restrict the plane of sharp focus.

[SHavard]

Originally Posted by Scott-Tx

evil4blue... do you know of any such old factories in the dfw area that one can shoot in?

sarah... i would say shoot very fast black and white film to get some grain in the prints. if you have a view camera, play with swinging the lens a little severly restrict the plane of sharp focus.

I'm only using digital but I can recreate that look in PS. Thanks!!

[evil4blue]

Originally Posted by Scott-Tx

evil4blue... do you know of any such old factories in the dfw area that one can shoot in?

I'm most familiar with Forth Worth, and it used to be easier to find these spots before Fort Worth decided to clean up some of the rundown areas downtown. There are a couple of alley ways right off of Sundance Square that could work. There's a big brick wall with a lot of groady motar on Main and 7th st (I think) in FW, its in a street-level parking lot. At the right time of day, the bus and train station on the south east side of FW would make for okay Urban sites. There are a bunch of grimey places along Vickery Blvd, just off of DTFW. You could see if you could get close to some of the old factories just north of the city, on the Trinity. Trinity park on University has a couple of basketball courts under a bridge. There is a lot of neat graffiti for an urban backdrop. Look at brad's Deep Ellum photos, those look like a good place to shoot in Dallas.

[Gordon]

A few places with bright murals spring to mind - particularly one just north of sixth street, round the corner from the hard rock cafe. Big, colourful mural that I've used a couple of times.

Also, some of the lots on congress, across from the Frost Tower (or near by, on the other side of congress) have very peeling, broken up textures that might work well (I'm thinking of the NW corner of 4th and congress I think)

There's also stuff up near the Austin Museum of Modern Art - the building across the street has fairly interesting modern architecture columns, tiles, reflections etc) Just down congress from that is the Hickory Cafe, which again has interesting murals along the wall leading away from congress.

Used the 6th street mural for this background (doesn't show you it but gives an idea of the colour)



Using the wall at the Hickory Cafe


Or you could probably just pose them around the side of the capitol building
(okay, I admit it, this was taken in Italy, but a wide angle lens and a bit of cross processing gives a fairly 'urban' look to a very generic location)



There are probably interesting things you could do with the Austin Power Plant as the
background - either shooting right in front of it on 1st street, or shooting from across the street on the pedestrian bridge (beside Lamar - it has a spiral ramp to the top -
good 'industrial' background there, due to the austin power plant and capitol building.
Shoot it towards sunset for warm light in their faces, and possibly the Austin Power sign
lit up in red and a warm glow on the capitol dome/ frost tower etc.