Amanda & Derrick Archives - American Photographer in Prague

Just like fashion photography styles come and go. There has been a recent trend (that is already fading) of simply putting every couple dead center in the frame, shooting horizontally with very shallow depth of field (35mm or 50mm at 1.2) and have them cuddle up (like the are freezing) and let us not forget to underexpose so that there are no details really in their faces and everything looks dark & gloomy…or as most now do – slap on a VSCO filter in Lightroom… Truth be told that particular style looks great but what about the other images from that session? Do you really wish to have 20, 30, 40 images of the same thing?

One of the latest trends that has really caught on is simply capturing two people in an unobtrusive style – one where the shots look like ‘grab shots’. Some call it lifestyle portraits while others call it fashion photography or fashion catalog. When done well the reality of this particular style lies somewhere in between documentary photography and classic portraiture. A documentary photographer will have the ‘fly on the wall’ approach, catching life as it happens without trying to interfere – which is the look this style is really striving for. While the classical portraiture photographer is concerned (or obsessed like the old timers) about what is in the frame, the light (and type of light) the clothes and of course he or she will be very concerned about the subjects body position, the angle of their head(s) or how their hands are placed (which is actually something that drives me up the wall)…

My own lifestyle photography sessions (not that I am arrogant enough to say what the actual definition of it truly is) is a mixture of the authentic and staged. Though I am keen on shooting what actually happens in real life the reality is I would never be able to capture such a diversity of images unless I was there to direct as well as use light in a way that is flattering. Most sessions are 2-4 hours and as such you have to take a bit of control. Just like in classical (or traditional) portraiture, I am still choosing to control a few things (such as the lighting) or at times placing the couple to maximize the beauty of the location (or decreasing the amount of background ‘noise’ such as people and cars) and placing their bodies in a way to make them look better overall (thinner, taller, sexier…).

When one of our latest couples, the successful Amanda & Derrick (who live in sunny California) contacted us she mentioned she was keen on a certain blogger: @wendyslookbook. As Amanda wrote ‘she is a fashion Instagram person but she has a lot of photos with her boyfriend that I admire. I love that she uses a lot of beautiful architecture as her background for photos.‘ What I enjoyed about this work is how clean the images were (no people or distracting objects) and how the colors of the outfits truly stood out (which is what she is pushing). The photography is beautifully executed (considering there is very little or not artificial lights) and is something you would expect with a successful Instagram blogger (1.2M followers) who is successfully making a profession out of it.

With Amanda and Derrick the idea was roughly the same, capture them in a way that looks unobtrusive & natural and use their choice of the Charles Bridge as the starting point. Our shooting was mostly before dawn (lighting assistant definitely required) and instead of colorful outfits they wore black or dark tones – against a black or dark sky… And lastly, instead of having many single portraits we have two stylish & hip people experiencing the goth & dark atmosphere of Prague. Funny enough I have met with two fashion bloggers (as well as photographed a lovely couple from Malaysia) who are wishing for this same style of shooting for their ‘brand’ so I think we will be seeing more sessions quite like this and soon.

A special thanks to Amanda & Derrick for allowing me to share some of their favorite images from their Prague session.