Overcome 'Photo Fear'!

"I hate having my photo taken!" and "Good luck getting my husband involved!" only a couple of phrases I've heard countless times that you wouldn't think I'd love, but I do!

Whenever I see the first signs of what I like to call "photo fear" I can't help but have a little smile, I am one to love a challenge and from experience I know that this fear will soon all be melted away.

I have come across hundreds of different personalities during my time as a professional photographer and I truly believe that this "photo fear" sometimes puts people in that instinctual fight or flight mode.

I've had families arrive at a session with everyone dressed all smart, the whole family there, hair tidy, faces clean and then had one member just come out and say... "yeah, urr I'm not going to be in any of the photos"... this my friends, is flight mode. Fleeing and being ultimately sure that it is something that they didn't want and weren't going to do.

I have also had families arrive with one member seeming slightly hostile towards me. Actually sitting for photos where I can feel the pure hatred pulsing off of them like a territorial rhino... fight mode. I have learnt how to adapt my personality to help calm and encourage a massive array of different personas. And in all my years of working in this industry, know that it's these people that react in these ways who end up having the most fun at a session!

To tell the truth I have shamefully had a fair dose of my own "photo fear", and I think it's this, that gives me the tools to empathise with my clients and make them feel completely comfortable when they never dreamed they would.

In my eyes of course you're going to be nervous in front of a camera and the photographer should expect it! You will worry that you aren't doing it right, whatever "it" is supposed to be. Whether it's the fear of not wearing the correct clothes, fear of your wild, yet, wonderful children or simply fear of how you will look in the photos, just remember that it's up to your photographer to diminish those worries for you and that you can just turn up and let yourself do your thang!

Think about it... a portrait photographer has one major aim when they meet to photograph you. This one main aim being, to capture a photograph of you, YOU! Now who could be you better than you?

You don't have to do anything extra special, you don't even have to smile if you don't feel like it (please don't... keep it natural people!). By simply relaxing and being yourself whilst listening to the instructions of the photographer, together you can make magic happen.