One of my favorite video shoots of all time was with Bambi Canrell, a top tier, multi award winning wedding and portrait photographer. Why? She is a joy to be around, full of life and energy. Yes, she thoroughly understands lighting, cameras, lenses, and in short, is a master of her craft. But what makes her a remarkable photographer is that she understands people and how to communicate with them to reach their soul.
What follows is an excerpt from our interview, but be sure to watch it to get all of her tips. Also read books by Bambi.
Marc: What are some of your tips in terms of using light?
Bambi: Lighting is the foundation of everything photographic, in my personal opinion. That’s what you have to start with, learning how to see the world and see what light does.
You see, shadows and light, they are what create and give an image its definition, its dimensionality.
So, the first thing I do when I walk into a room is I take my hand like this
Marc: So Bambi, what are sort of the one-two-three steps that you follow when you approach any kind of photograph?
Bambi: I like clean, simple lines. When you look through any of my photography, very seldom do you see a lot of background; it’s not about the location to me, it’s about the face and about the subject.
Once I have identified the location where I want my subject to appear, where I want them to be, the most important element that has to go into it is having my subject forget the camera is there, so I really want to take a personal interest in my subject at that point, look into their eyes and talk with them and get them to forget about that monster of camera that’s there, and then really be able to pull from them great expression because at the end of the day, expression beats perfection any day of the week, and if you have the most perfect photograph in the universe it’s a zero if you have no expression from your subjects.
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