Two weeks ago, we had a shoot which made us feel more homesick and made us miss our families more than ever. It was a family reunion of a Filipino clan here in Dubai. It was their mother’s 60th birthday, their sister’s wedding anniversary and one of the nephew’s birthday all in one occasion. Some of them flew from the Philippines and from the US to celebrate these events and the reunion was a long awaited rendezvous.
Filipinos are known for having close family ties even we are miles away from each other. Most children, when choosing homes opt to live close to parents so they can look after them and parents also would love to stay close to children so they can dote on their grandchildren.
Honestly, we enjoyed shooting this project and they were very nice people. But we were not completely happy with our result.
There are several advantages of shooting as a tag team or partners. We get more shots and at different angles of our subject. We capture emotions one photographer often miss i.e one of us shoots at a couple kiss while the other shoots an emotional shot of the parents wiping a tear and while one of us gets an overhead artistic shot, one gets a nice portrait of the subject. There are a lot of advantages but there are also disadvantages if not taken into consideration. An example circumstance would be a group shot. When there is more than one photographer, it is by luck and loud voice you would get a shot when they are looking at you. So advice to all photographers, make sure you get the group’s attention when taking a group shot. Which means ask your second shooter to sit or help you remove distractions. Although during events, it will be harder because there are other people taking photos. In this occasion, use you loudest voice and say “Cheese!”
We got cool group shots but when it comes to photography, you should always, always strive for perfection. Which is why there is no stopping in learning and refining your skill.
