Sometimes a photoshoot just doesn’t go well; sometimes you think it goes well, you wrap everything up but when you want to edit the image, it just doesn’t feel right. I think that’s exactly what has happened in the case of my ‘Oktoberfest’ photoshoot last month. I don’t know what exactly went wrong and what mistakes I’ve made during the photoshoot.
I had started having an idea about shooting a beer and an Oktoberfest-themed image for my portfolio a couple of weeks before October. I really wanted to use a local brewer from Memphis and I saw Wiseacre Brewing’s Oktoberfest Gemutlichkeit while doing grocery shopping. It was exactly what I was looking for because Wiseacre Brewing is a local brewery and the beer was themed with Oktoberfest. The next step was to think about the specific idea and how to shoot it. Since it’s the 'harvest season' here in the US, pumpkins and hay are in every store. Few more flowers and leaves from my background and I had all of the props I needed.
I wanted to have the shoot outdoors and I needed to shoot it in shade in order to control the light in the photograph. I used a garden umbrella to have shade and I wish I could also have everything in the shade, including the background far behind the shoot location - I think this is one of the things I don’t like about the photograph but I only realized it after I wrapped up the shoot and here comes the second lesson learned: I shot it on my weakest day of a week - on Sunday. I don’t exactly know why but I always feel tired and unmotivated on Sundays. Naturally, I felt extremely worn out only after 2 hours of setting everything up and shooting so I wanted to finish the shoot as soon as possible. Nevertheless, I was pretty sure I liked the final image when I was wrapping the shoot up but I think that the 'Sunday fatigue' influenced my judgement.
I don’t like the photograph enough to have it in my portfolio but the whole experience and the lessons learned are great for the future.