You Can’t Script It

I recently did a four-day shoot for a client with planned scenarios and a shot list. We’d bang things out like “Let’s get the shot of Dad in the morning with his first coffee on a camping trip” and it would be like 1pm. We’d also have to light it like it was first morning light. So we’d light it with thick orange gels and then call Dad in, holding a mug with nothing in it, who needs to look like he just woke up, but didn’t. When you shoot from a script, nothing looks quite right. The mood, lighting, and even posture are off. You lose any sense of what was magical in the first place. I feel like that’s the definition of advertising these days, unfortunately.

via Q&A with San Francisco Photographer JAKE STANGEL | POP | Photographers on Photography.