Glamor Shots

Back in January, I had purchased a Groupon for a professional photographer; I thought that a set of flattering, professional photographs would be an invaluable keepsake, and would provide a nice ego boost. I finally decided to cash it in this September. I scheduled a one-hour shoot, got my friend Haley (a professional makeup artist who works for film and TV) to do my makeup, and made other preparations for the one-hour shoot.

The shoot was scheduled for 4:00 p.m. at Barnsdall Art Park, on Saturday, September 17th. I thought Barnsdall would be a great location, since it was close to my apartment, and had a variety of different areas which could serve as backdrops for photos. At first, the photography company wasn't certain that they could take photographs there, and suggested some alternative locations. Happily, things worked out, and I was able to shoot at Barnsdall after all.

Haley came to my apartment about an hour and a half before the shoot to apply the makeup, which ended up looking very nice in a natural way, and, importantly, photographed well. After picking up a few "costume changes," Haley (who would be there to touch-up my makeup when necessary) and I headed to the park.

Once I had gotten to the meeting place at Barnsdall, I noticed that people were beginning to set up for a Thai festival. I briefly worried that the booths could interfere with the photos, but, fortunately, it didn't create any problems. We were even able to take advantage of the hammocks that had been set up.

The photographer and his assistant (who held up screens to reflect or diffuse the light, and intermittently gave me suggestions) appeared on schedule, introduced themselves, and started taking photos.

During the hour, we wandered through the grounds in search of locations which were interesting, but not too distracting. Once we found a setting, the photographer worked at capturing a bunch of different poses and expressions.

After the hour was over, the photographer told me that he would be sending a CD with the 100 best pictures and that I could chose 20 to be retouched in Photoshop. I have the CD, but I'm still debating about which photos I would like to have cleaned up.

I had a fun time, and I'm very glad that I went ahead and had these pictures taken. There are several that I am quite fond of, and it'll be wonderful to keep these photos around and share them with friends and family.