How Important is Preparation?

Annie Leibovitz took 3 weeks to plan for a half an hour photoshoot with the Queen. This was a time consuming process, especially with the assistance of 11 people. This shows how important preparation is even though it is tedious. Different parts of this plan could be scrapped so there is no set schedule for when each part of Leibovitz’s plan was confirmed.

The first thing that has to be planned is the time, date and place of the photoshoot as well as the poses, costume and makeup of the model for mise en scene. The location of lights and reflectors would have to planned at this time as well.

Inspiration from other photos taken of the Queen would be looked at to think of ideas for the original type of photo that Leibovitz likes to take.

She would also require photos of the location from either someone who works there or her own location scout to help add to the lighting plan and for more inspiration using the environment of the model.

The more socially important the model of a portrait is, the more preparation has to be done to plan how to capture that importance. The outfit has to be planned, cleaned and ironed.

Another important part of the preparation was arranging the rental of lighting and reflectors instead of bringing them from America with her. This reduces the cost of logistics for the photoshoot but increases the length of the time it took her to prepare.

Another thing that has to be planned is the travel and accommodation of Leibovitz and her 11 assistants as well as their equipment and clothes. This is a time consuming process because it has to be booked in advance and the correct paperwork such as passports and work visas would have to be secured in advance.

Travel from her hotel to collect the necessary equipment and take it to the photoshoot has to be planned as well. This requires a fair bit of planning arranging how the equipment can be arranged to be as safe and efficient for space as much as possible.

Security passes also have to be acquired to access the photoshoot location so the security team knows who the assistants are and can vet them for security purposes.