I decided to try a formal portrait session of some of the older people in the village a few weeks ago. Many of them had never had a formal portrait taken, so I decided to do it pro-bono as a learning exercise. I arranged a space in a freind’s courtyard and setup a white backdrop and a single strobe with a shoot-through umbrella. I also brought a reflector for fill light. A friend came with me as an assistant (thanks J!). Everything went great – except for some rain, but we were in a covered area of the courtyard.

The scans from the Hasselblad 500 C/M came back great. Technically they were very good photos with decent lighting and focus. I had them printed down in Shenzhen to give to everyone. I had the prints sent to my friend in the village so she could distribute them.

Then I got a bit of a surprise. Because I used a medium format camera with an EXTREMELY crisp lens the photos were very sharp. Too sharp for old people. Every wrinkle, wart, and bad tooth were visible in the prints. They hated them. One woman even tore up her print. Wow.

So what lesson did I learn? Know your audience when you take their portrait. I probably should have used a more flattering lighting setup and a soft-focus lens to help shave-off a few years.