You may have all the gear. You may have attended skill building workshops or watched every online model posing class you can get your hands on. But starting out as an amateur photographer, how do you gain valuable experience photographing people? 

Family & Friends

The confidence to photograph people, ultimately strangers, develops in small steps. Clearly my daughters and their friends have been a strong element in my personal projects so far. The Zombie above is my daughter's friend, Niamh who has turned out to be a fabulous model.

But I'm aware that I'm very lucky and in the future I may have to look further afield for models so what's my next best tip?

Costume Events

Events with an element of costume or cosplay are the next step. Look out for museum events, fair days or any type of living history displays at the various heritage parks around the country. My new favourite outing is Dublin Comic Con. 

Firstly and most importantly I'm going to relay the advice to photographers displayed at the entrance to the convention; Cosplay is not consent, you must ask permission to photograph Cosplayers. 

That said, every single Cosplayer I approached gladly posed for photographs, they've put so much work into their look and they're proud of it being photographed it's part of their day, but it's always good manners to ask for permission. 

There is always an exception to the rules, especially when you spot a shot that captures a moment not to be repeated.