Photographer Challenges Herself To Shoot In ‘Ugly’ Location, And Results Prove That It’s All About The Skill
Pro and amateur photographers see different things when they look at the same place, and this story proves that professionals can work wonders even with minimal resources. To challenge herself, Jenna Martin took her camera and her portrait photography model to Lowe’s: “Instead of searching out the usual beautiful locations around where we live, I had the idea to do just the opposite,” she wrote on PetaPixel. “I wanted to go somewhere ‘ugly’ by all conventional photography standards and then see what we could do with it. Lowe’s seemed like the perfect option.”
“For this ugly location challenge, I wanted somewhere with horrible lighting and limited backdrops. Somewhere that made absolutely no sense for a photoshoot idea.” Before she started shooting, Martin set herself some rules:
1) They had to work with whatever was already there. The photographer brought just her camera, without any artificial lighting or props;
2) They couldn’t rearrange the displays or make any big changes to photo backgrounds;
3) They’d stop shooting if anyone else was in the background.
“As soon as we walked in an employee asked if they could help us and I asked, “We were just going to take a few photos, is that okay?” He replied, “Of course! I was just wondering why she was so overdressed for a trip to the hardware store!” Martin and her model had about an hour before the store closed, so they began their photoshoot in narrow and wide aisles, against paint samples and trees.
“Overall, this was a really fun challenge! Not that I’d invite an actual client to ever do a Lowe’s photoshoot (I mean, never say never), but I was pretty happy with these cool photos! Horrible location for the win! Next time you see an awful spot, maybe give it a chance, you never know what you might end up with.”
More info: jennamartinphotography.com | Instagram | Model’s Instagram (h/t petapixel)
“Instead of searching out the usual beautiful locations around where we live, I had the idea to do just the opposite”
Image credits: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
“Lowe’s seemed like the perfect option” Location 1: The Paint Samples
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Lowe’s Location 2: The Lighting Section
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Lowe’s Location 3: The Aisles
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Location Shot: Aisle 2
Lowe’s Location 4: The Garden Section
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Lowe’s Location 5: Pillows Section
“Horrible location for the win!”
The locations are beautiful ? And also, I liked some of the unedited versions more than the edited ones.
True, it makes it seem almost more real, y'know?
I like the unedited light one
yeah... don't forget the beautiful girl are big part of beautiful portrait. even at a ugly place a beautiful girl do the trick
So all you need is a gorgeous girl to take professional good-looking pictures? If that's you're trying to say, you clearly haven't seen enough pictures. Besides, she's not even that pretty (sorry, but beauty is subjective). She's definitely photogenic and she has nice poses, but her beauty is not universal. There is much more to be said about the photographer's skill in a "dull location" (and if it doesn't look like it it's because of his experience on picking spots and angles), the editing and the camera itself than the girl/model.
Her experience in picking spots and angles, not his.
beauty is a matter of one's oppinion on the one hand. on the other hand the "right" thing seems more beautiful than one's oppinion. this is not meant offensive in any way – pls let me explain: for example the colour pattern background calls for some fashion-styled shooting (imo). a "natural beauty" or "friendly family portrait" wouldn't fit as good as that model-like girl in this picture, although i'd also would prefer rather natural girls than those with makeup and perfect hairstyling. and i have to agree that experience and skill of the photographer plays a big role in a good picture. people tend to only see the end result, but no one sees the endless hours spent in this craftmanship and no one cares about the process, that led to the things presented to us here.
Yeah not impressed
You took the words right out of my mouth.
The locations are beautiful ? And also, I liked some of the unedited versions more than the edited ones.
True, it makes it seem almost more real, y'know?
I like the unedited light one
yeah... don't forget the beautiful girl are big part of beautiful portrait. even at a ugly place a beautiful girl do the trick
So all you need is a gorgeous girl to take professional good-looking pictures? If that's you're trying to say, you clearly haven't seen enough pictures. Besides, she's not even that pretty (sorry, but beauty is subjective). She's definitely photogenic and she has nice poses, but her beauty is not universal. There is much more to be said about the photographer's skill in a "dull location" (and if it doesn't look like it it's because of his experience on picking spots and angles), the editing and the camera itself than the girl/model.
Her experience in picking spots and angles, not his.
beauty is a matter of one's oppinion on the one hand. on the other hand the "right" thing seems more beautiful than one's oppinion. this is not meant offensive in any way – pls let me explain: for example the colour pattern background calls for some fashion-styled shooting (imo). a "natural beauty" or "friendly family portrait" wouldn't fit as good as that model-like girl in this picture, although i'd also would prefer rather natural girls than those with makeup and perfect hairstyling. and i have to agree that experience and skill of the photographer plays a big role in a good picture. people tend to only see the end result, but no one sees the endless hours spent in this craftmanship and no one cares about the process, that led to the things presented to us here.
Yeah not impressed
You took the words right out of my mouth.