Five Minutes for Five Locations: Are You up for This Portrait Challenge?

Sometimes, it's easy to get a bit over the top with the creative process in that we focus so much on every last detail and nuance that we outsmart ourselves. This video takes the opposite approach, pushing for fast experimentation.

Coming to you from Manny Ortiz, this interesting video follows him as he attempts to shoot five sets of portraits in five different locations in five minutes. I personally think it's a great exercise for a couple of reasons. First, it helps you learn to evaluate potential portrait spots and locations quickly. This is an important skill for photographers who often work on a time crunch to have, such as wedding photographers. Second, I think he's addressing a problem that creatives in all genres frequently encounter. It's easy to become a bit too married to the process and put the results or yet to be achieved results on a bit of a pedestal. In doing so, we delude ourselves into thinking we're pushing toward a breakthrough, when really, we're stagnating the entire process. That's not to say that there's never any value in deeper creative investigation, but sometimes, the best thing to do is just get out there and take pictures — lots of them. 

Alex Cooke's picture

Alex Cooke is a Cleveland-based portrait, events, and landscape photographer. He holds an M.S. in Applied Mathematics and a doctorate in Music Composition. He is also an avid equestrian.

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6 Comments

Excellent ! Wise guy to pick such model ! Well done !

Of course, location doesnt really matter when you do a portrait of a good looking girl. And it was the perfect time with the perfect lighting conditions.

Beyond a certain level, the location matters. It depends on intent.

'Give me five of your best poses.' I would love to be able to say that. Corporate folks don't even have one good pose! ;-)

I'm not a professional photographer, but it took me a whole 2 sessions to figure out that having an attractive young woman helps you tremendously. Shitty location or not a pretty face almost always saves the day.

It true but also Manny does know his photography, angles, framing, composition. Great model could be "a safety net" but when you know your stuff you can go further !