AD5803 - First Shooting

Last Sunday I had the first official shooting for my project "On The Same Boat"; I was particularly excited because I would have shot an entire family in their house and to me it is always great when I have the opportunity to shoot my subjects in their own environment.

I spent an amazing morning with them, and since they were all together in a familiar space, I could naturally get very intimate family life pictures.

I also recorded an interview in which Giuliana, the mum, tell their amazing story which I will include in the book.

Here some of my favourite shots:

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I am very happy with the natural familiar feel of these pictures, especially the last one in which they are all together I think is really strong, even if none of them is directly engaging with me. I have many other pictures of the same situation, some in which at least one of them is directly looking at me, but I still believe this is the strongest one.

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Obviously, I need to include some pictures of them that engage with the viewer, so I will include one or more portraits. However, since this book will be a collection of stories, I have to make sure to give equal importance to every subject and the design and layout of the book will be crucial.

So I think I will need to dedicate no more than a double spread to every subject, otherwise it may get confusing.

For this family I think I will include the family picture, the portrait of the mum (which is essential to their story) and the picture of their first house in Prestbury, that I haven't shot yet. I would love to include the portrait of the two sisters or Giuliana who is kissing her daughter Chiara, but since they are all shot in the same location I am concerned it may get visually repetitive.

My original idea was taking a staged picture of the whole family and then some candid photos/portraits, but I the family pictures that we have staged are very weak in comparison with the ones above.

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I mean...

The "Last Supper" composition has not been my brightest idea.

The intention wasn't bad; I remember one Sharon's lecture from last year in which she introduced us to the amazing work of Thomas Struth in his project "Family Portraits". He took pictures of families around the world, leaving them the choice how to arrange the picture, in order to represent them more truthfully.

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I used the same approach, but miserably failed. With a few simple precautions I could have got significantly better results:

1- I should have shot from a different angle, avoiding the "Last Supper-like" composition. Facing the table makes a very boring composition.

2 - Wider aperture! Since they were very close to the background I should have shot with something like 5.6 so I wouldn't have all those distractive details in the back

Looking at the image that I shot candid in the kitchen, I can see why it works:

The scalene triangle composition is a guarantee and the different directions in which they look at, make the image dynamic.

Now, the challenge will be to create a good consistent sequence in the book. Since all my subjects are different and they are in very different location, I need to use a design that will make it work.

Consistence is my biggest concern for this project and I need to look at practitioners' books to find my own solutions.