Adventures of my first “in the box” photography session

A few weeks ago, my friend told me about her mom, a hobbyiest photographer, building a box... a huge box. She didn't understand what her mom was doing or what the whole thing was about. She showed me an example and I replied, "oh, I've been wanting to build a box for years!!" Once we saw what her mom did with the photos, she was excited about this "strange" box idea and I was inspired to finally get going on my own box! So, I thank my friend's mom for getting me in gear and inspiring me to build a box. I went to my mom and said "I want a box"! I showed my mom some photos of what I was wanting to add to my studio and the cool, modern images that were done in the box. The next day, she, being the project manager that she is, made a list of materials and sent my dad to Home Depot to gather supplies. I honestly was quite shocked that they took it upon themselves to make this box for me. It was definitely something I figured I would end up building myself. I am very lucky to have such supportive parents. 

With the materials bought, my dad had a plan. And step #1 in the plan to making my box was to paint the wood white. Now, for most people that would have be the last step, but for my dad, it was step #1. After a week of painting and re-coating and more coats, I kept reminding him, you know I need that box in 2 days, right? I have some models coming in for a practice session on Sunday. He kept saying, I know, I know, it just needs another coat of paint. All the while, the box hadn’t been built at all, only cut into pieces and painted white.. Many, many layers of white paint.

Before I knew it, it was Sunday. The day for the trial run of the box, and the box was still not complete. Early afternoon came around and literally as the 4 kiddo models show up to my house, my dad is moving the finished box into my studio. Phew, I have a box! It’s a beautiful, giant, white wooden box. And it’s so amazing, I’m in love!! Now what? 

So, what exactly is “in the box” photography? 

An “Inside the box” photo sessions is exactly what is sounds like. You get in a box, I take pictures!! Hehe... maybe there's a little more to it. I have 1 wooden box that is 4’x4’x2’ deep. The box sits on a white wooden stand that is approximately 30" off the ground. The box is strong and can hold as many people as we can possibly fit in there. A photo session can last up to an hour and we will play inside the single box that I have set up in my home studio. Here is where the real fun happens. We will be creative and pretend to interact with other boxes. The more interactions between boxes, the more time consuming the session and editing process as well as more attention to detail will be required, but also the more interesting the final image will become.

Once the session is over, the real magic in creating these final images begins when I take all the photos we’ve taken during the session and put them together in Photoshop. I will lay them out and rearrange them, to find the best interactions and expressions for the final collage image.

Limbs hanging over the edges of boxes, interacting with props from box to box, etc. All of this must be completed in Photoshop and takes time to get the image perfect. 
 

During my first “in the box” photo session, I was lucky enough to have these 4 vivacious kids over to my home studio to play in the box. When I showed the box to the 2 younger kids, they took one look at the box and said “nope”, and ran off to the playroom. Haha. They had no idea what they were going to be doing inside that box. This whole concept was so foreign to them and they didn’t understand what we were doing. 

So, I started with the older girls, the twins. They took to the box so fast and were a blast to have playing around in there. Can you believe these girls are identical twins!? They’re so vastly different and a simple box really highlighted their personalities. Saige was all in character and loved playing up being in the box, while Elsa perfected her modeling poses. She was a little supermodel inside that box. I was incredibly impressed with both of these girls and their session was so fast. 5 minutes later I was like, I guess we’re done!?  It was magical.

Next up, the younger kids. After watching their older siblings, and now understanding this box was to play in, they too took right to it. Savanah is a little goofball, and would make all sorts of faces. Mama said she’s always been that way since she was a baby, making faces and sticking out her tongue, so it’s her true personality. In true boy fashion, Elliot was all about dancing, and being a goof in the box. He would dab and floss every chance he got. But, in the end, he was great and took direction well. 

In the end we got lots of great shots with all sorts of combinations to put together some fun collages. Even Mama got in on the action. It was her dream to have a picture where she’s hugging all 4 of her kids at one time. And we got that with all 5 of them in the box! It was a tight squeeze getting her arms around 4 growing kids, but it was fun seeing them all hug together and how close this family is. 

There was a lot to learn from my first box session. I learned a few tricks for the next session, but overall it went great and I’m so excited to now be able to offer “in the box” sessions at Candie’s Camera.