Wanted: Photographer’s Identity

23Oct09

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how to interact with those folks who want me to take their picture.  During the Portfolio + Workshop I attended last week I watched as several leaders in the wedding photography business interacted with the models.  There was a frenetic energy guy and a couple of flirty guys who, though benignly, flirted with the girls.  I understand that this is their way of getting the models to relax and have confidence, which is at least half the battle to getting a good picture, and we did get some doozies.  But it left me wondering, how I could get the same result if I was interacting with these beautiful young women.  How do I relate to them?  We all know that women can be notoriously catty and jealous. I also know that even if the cat is staring at me from the other end of the lens, I can relax them by rolling over on my back and exposing my belly, metaphorically speaking of course.  To do this I have to let them know that they are top dog (or cat in this case) and that I’m no threat either physically or intellectually – meaning they can’t think that I’m purposely going to take bad pictures of them, make them look fat…etc….I know this dynamic exists because I’ve been guilty of avoiding it myself.  SIGH…women are, well, complicated.  But then, who am I?  I’m much older than my prospective clientele but not old enough to be their mother (or so I’d like to think).  So who does that make me then that could relax them?  I guess I could be the older aunt   But am I the aunt who tells them to sit up straight and get their elbows off the table or am I the cool aunt who takes them to get a tattoo when their mother is out of town?  I would guess the latter, but then I remember the story I told my nephew when he was acting up during one family vacation.  I told him that he was, in fact, not my sister’s first child, that she had another boy, Scott, who died because he didn’t listen to his mother when she told him NOT to slide down the stairs on his pillow.  Scott died in a tragic stair sliding accident.  Yes, I really did that.  It didn’t work, but up until last year he wasn’t sure if he had an older dead brother.  So is that my angle?  Tell these girls that if they don’t pose correctly they’ll go the way of Scott?  No, that can’t be it.  Do I pull on my roots as an engineer and take measurements of their head, eyes, and cheekbones run some calculations to find the best angle for them to be photographed?    Who am I?  What will work?  This will be my challenge in the coming months.  If you are a woman and reading this blog, let me know how and what puts you at ease in front of the camera, especially if there are a pair of double ‘X’ chromosomes on the business end of the camera.

Here is something that’s NOT complicated.  Probably the simplest, happiest thing in the world.  Enjoy 

WV

PS This is NOT Scott.

Happy Simple Good

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Tags: photographer's identity, photography identity