Recently I met a client in Dallas at 7 am, yes 7 am, for a headshot and personal celebration photography session. Although she was beautiful and very fit, she was more than a bit nervous. If she could only see what I see… which is oh-so-true with most of my clients.
Some of my clients literally have nightmares in anticipation of a professional headshot session. Knowing from where these fears originate is oftentimes helpful in creating final portraits our clients can be proud to use for marketing their Dallas business. What makes people unphotogenic is not feeling comfortable in front of the camera, and it should be every photographer’s job to get their clients there.
While most of us would look at my client that morning and not be able to find one thing wrong, in her defense,
-
She had just overcome some personal obstacles, which may have left her feeling less-than-the-confident self most of us would expect from someone of her beauty.
-
She just turned 40 and may have been a little too distracted by the new lines she was seeing in the mirror. You know, the ones no one else even notices. By the way, photographic enhancements are included in each final headshot.
-
She was recently divorced, which I’ve been told is a blow to the ego.
-
Maybe she still felt like the slightly overweight woman she used to be. It’s like so many of my clients who have beautiful smiles, but they are still stuck on the pre-braces middle-schooler.
A huge part of our brand at Photography by Misty is bringing out people’s genuine selves, getting them to the place of photogenic. And by 7:15 am we were making progress. However, a little incident happened that led to a belly laugh and nothing but fantastic images to follow.
Storytime
Let me give you a little backstory:
-
The Dallas photographers’ dream backdrop property where we were shooting featured a pond, streams, water features, hills, and bridges.
-
I had my little red wagon. For those of you who have experienced it, yes, it’s a little dorky, but it sure is handy when hauling photography equipment!!
-
The two bullet points above inclined me to tell that day’s client the story of the time my little red wagon headed down a hill and into a pond, ruining a new $1000 flash. And my phone was never to be seen again, either.
-
My client that day was dog-sitting a friend’s puppy. Earlier in the week when she headed to the gym, neighbors complained the puppy was barking. Not to upset the neighbors, the cute little guy accompanied her on the shoot. Since she didn’t have a dog crate, we contained the squiggly little thing in a soft-sided cat carrier.
Ok. Ya’ll ready for this…? E is rocking the poses I am throwing her way, and I am clicking away capturing her beauty, complete with dangling bracelets and perfectly curled hair. Everything is going well (and the puppy is no longer barking for attention). However, I had this feeling, you know the feeling you get when a toddler is quiet, that maybe silence isn’t bliss...
The puppy and the crate had made their way down the hill, stopping within a few feet of the pond’s edge. Yes, it was a near tragedy. But since no one was injured in the making of these portraits, the shenanigans of the puppy were hilarious, serving as a great ice breaker for the next hour and a half of creating fantastic personal branding portraits.
We did keep a more mindful eye on the pretty young thing and even invited him to join in on the last few portraits.
0 Comments