There is something to be said about being prepared.  Whether it's for a test or for a photoshoot.  There's a lot you can do as a photographer to get ready to shoot.  In journalism, you learn as much about your topic or event as possible.  You look at what has been done before and pre-visualize a few ideas that you can try that are different.  For weddings and various lifestyle photography, you do the same thing.  In a world saturated with images you find things you like and look how you can apply them for consistency and make them work for your own unique vision.  Going into the first shoot of my professional project I did not feel prepared.  I'd done photos in the studio at Mizzou, figuring out what type of lighting I liked and what I definitely did not.  A few days before meeting with Janet I set up my one flash and my giant reflector in my tiny living room and did some self portraits.  I had to figure out distances and ratios with the equipment I had.  I'm glad I did because it really helped me when I was with my subject.  Here's the process I've gone through over the last few months in preparation for the next two months of crazy.

Megan helping me out:

Figuring out Light Ratios and Directionality in my Living Room:

The self-portrait result:

and the result with my subject!:

:)