Guy, I appreciate the pre-thinking you are asking about. Prepro is the secret to success, as luck favors the prepared.
Commercial work, weddings, and personal work are each different processes for me.
Weddings are more impromptu, and are more about being prepared for worst, and hoping for the best. Client pre-meetings help set the creative shoot expectations, I may sketch out a few ideas I want to try and accomplish if there is time ... map questing every location in order as a back-up to GPS, packing gear and redundant backups, working with clients on an itinerary for the day, then selecting gear based on timings and creative ideas (at this point I can pack and repack the bag as I change my creative ideas). I use a roller with most everything needed in it (strobes are separate), but also have smaller lens bags in the SUV for mobile location work ... grab the camera and two other lenses for mobile stop-off points.
Commercial work and conceptual portraits are totally different and are based on so many years in advertising. I work mostly on the ideas and concepts first (which is the most important step) and select the ones I want to pursue ... then start the pre-pro process where I plan out each idea very carefully: location scout, plan timings for assistants, PAs, discuss ideas with hair/make-up, wardrobe, props ... look up the timings for the sun and the light direction at the location, actually diagram the lighting ideas for each set-up so we have everything I need ready.
Personal work, just takes a bit of pre-thought ... mostly determined by how I want to creatively play it ... NYC or any urban location walk-about usually means B&W, Leica MM, small kit ... Tropical "fat light scenarios" may mean the S2 ... and so on. Or the exact opposite if I so choose to play it that way.
three words ... Prepro, prepro, prepro. The creative notions or ideas inform the prepro, the prepro stacks the odds in favor of success ... yet mentally always leaving some room for intuitive discovery at the last minute.
-Marc
Commercial work, weddings, and personal work are each different processes for me.
Weddings are more impromptu, and are more about being prepared for worst, and hoping for the best. Client pre-meetings help set the creative shoot expectations, I may sketch out a few ideas I want to try and accomplish if there is time ... map questing every location in order as a back-up to GPS, packing gear and redundant backups, working with clients on an itinerary for the day, then selecting gear based on timings and creative ideas (at this point I can pack and repack the bag as I change my creative ideas). I use a roller with most everything needed in it (strobes are separate), but also have smaller lens bags in the SUV for mobile location work ... grab the camera and two other lenses for mobile stop-off points.
Commercial work and conceptual portraits are totally different and are based on so many years in advertising. I work mostly on the ideas and concepts first (which is the most important step) and select the ones I want to pursue ... then start the pre-pro process where I plan out each idea very carefully: location scout, plan timings for assistants, PAs, discuss ideas with hair/make-up, wardrobe, props ... look up the timings for the sun and the light direction at the location, actually diagram the lighting ideas for each set-up so we have everything I need ready.
Personal work, just takes a bit of pre-thought ... mostly determined by how I want to creatively play it ... NYC or any urban location walk-about usually means B&W, Leica MM, small kit ... Tropical "fat light scenarios" may mean the S2 ... and so on. Or the exact opposite if I so choose to play it that way.
three words ... Prepro, prepro, prepro. The creative notions or ideas inform the prepro, the prepro stacks the odds in favor of success ... yet mentally always leaving some room for intuitive discovery at the last minute.
-Marc