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Webstar

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Tommy
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Guy a friend of mine who is 18 has the big c and just started chemotherapy and soon be loosing her hair anyway she wants portrait shot from now till her hair comes back every two weeks but I just can't thing the best way to light her or pose her should I do strait on head and shoulder with a beauty dish ect ect I jut can't think so your ideas would be much appreciated thanks Tom
 
A beauty dish can be unflattering and will highlight every blemish and every bit of tiredness induced by the treatment. If she wants a warts and all record then fine, if she wants flattering then softer light or less-close up stuff may work better.

Two ideas..
  1. A series of full-length location portraits in all sorts of places. Up a hill, in woods, around town, etc.
  2. A series of head & shoulders shots lit by consistent window light, or just inside the doorway so the only thing which changes is the hair / face. I love using the shadow transition zone just inside a window or doorway and I've been inspired to do some more by a friend who's been doing a series of them. This is an old one, I can do better now :)

Charli

A traditional pose for female head and shoulders shots is to turn the shoulders away from the camera, towards the key light slightly, and then turn the chin back towards the near shoulder and eyes towards the camera.
 
thanks for your comment but one question would you do the same pose over and over or mix it up a bit
 
Webstar said:
thanks for your comment but one question would you do the same pose over and over or mix it up a bit
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It depends. Are you documenting the course of the illness & treatment, or trying do something more creative? I think you need to talk to your friend; what's she expecting? Do you want 'lifestyle' portraits, something more fashiony, something outlandish 'cos you can, something that shows off her life & interests or something else altogether?

And what are you good at / comfortable with?

btw, I hope she recovers well from the cancer. A friend of mine went through the process - and is fine now - but there were times that she had virtually no energy at all. If you're shooting regularly then keeping things as simple as possible would probably be sensible.

These are the opposite extremes of things you might consider. A model I know suffers from epilepsy and her partner documented her illness: http://www.mattthompson.co.uk/helens-story
And Benjamin Von Wong did a highly styled shoot with a terminally ill woman: http://www.vonwong.com/blog/bringing-a-dream-to-life/
 
as above is it for documentary purposes for her to record her journey, or for ( and hate saying this ) memories for her family/ friends .
if its docu then i would stick with similar poses. if its more memories/ personal then a range of more natural shots.
best wishes to her and a full recovery
 
Great information here guys and yes it is to document her journey her mum said to me you will have to do it on her good days but I said we have to do it on her bad days to and I no she probably won't want but we will see what happens
 
And thanks guys for the get well wishes I'll pass them on if you think of anything els please let me know
 
not the same thing i know but last year i was rushed in to hospital and had emergency life saving surgery. another hour i would have been in my box.
i took selfies each day afterwoulds on my phone ( couldnt really get up and do them with my camera wasnt well enough ) and recorded myself and my surgery wounds . i looked like total hell for several days ( no oil painting now !) but i wouldnt go a day without making a record of it no matter how bad i felt as it was ( and still is ) a huge part of my life.
no matter how bad she may feel on some days even if the pic that day is a quick snap or even a selfie she takes herself. as its a way of being able to come to terms with what happened as it happened too.
 
Based on my experience, I'd shoot it completely documentary/fly on the wall/call it what you like. I certainly wouldn't do posed shots. You might like to bear in mind that she's likely to be feeling pretty wretched for the first 5-7 days after each chemo session, the first two sessions of which are the worst.
 
cheers guys i no she is going to feel s***ty sometimes and i no some days she will be up for it i just didn't know what type of shot i should go for Bering in mind the good days and the bad days i think i sort of wanted like a before a middle and a nice lovey one at the end if you catch my drift
 
had a freind of mine several years ago have the big C of the lymph nodes and had to undergo chemo every couple of weeks. surprisingly he was lucky enough not to lose hes haur, he cut it all very short beforehand anyway ( number 2 cut prior to that he was a haired headed biker with guns n roses slash like hair! )
however my point .. in regard to chemo he used to have chemo on monday and the effects would kick in on tuesday/ wednesday but my thursday has was good to go. everyones different in there reaction to chemo but for him the side effects were only a couple of days, hopefully your friend doesnt suffer to much with it as the effects can be far worse than the cause of the problem.
 
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