What You Can Do (Part 5)

This is another entry in my continuing series on what you can do to help make your photography spectacular. All of these posts are merely suggestions and not requirements. You'll have beautiful and wonderful photography from me regardless. But take some of these things into account and your investment will have much larger dividends. I'm not a magician and some of these suggestions can make a huge difference in how stunning your photographs can be.

What you can do #5: Invest in your photography experience.

You think I'm talking about money -I'm not. (though that is another meaning for this, and well, another post) Investing in your photography experience is fairly simple to understand - what I mean is that the more you put into your photography, the more you will get out of it. It is more than just hiring a great professional artist - the process of getting those amazing results rests halfway with you.

Here are some of the ways you can "invest" in your photography experience:

Commit to the fact that you are having your photograph taken.
Coming to any photo shoot with an attitude of "I don't like having my picture taken", "This is awkward", "I'm embarrassed" or any other negative attitude will absolutely affect the energy during the shoot and show up in the pictures. Absolutely, everyone is awkward at first and it takes a little time to shake that off and get comfortable with the process. You will be, I'll be patient and help you, and you will get comfortable - I swear. But if you decide that 'Yes, I am having photographs taken here, I want them to be incredible. I'm going to look at the camera with intention, ignore it and focus on my fiance as if we were alone and do all the things that I want captured' your results will be better. How do you know you are committing? When I tell you "Go over by that door and act and feel sexy" for example, and you DO IT, without hesitation, and enjoy it, then you are committed to the process. It is natural to feel self-conscious in front of the camera. What you have to do is decide to ignore that and just go for it. Who cares if anyone sees you and makes fun of you? You're an adult, confident in your own skin who could care less what others think. My best example of this was on Tom and Julie's engagement shoot - we were shooting around Alterra on KK, and Tom ran into at least two friends while I was firing away frames. He could have slipped into "embarrassed guy, my fiance is making me do this" mode - but he didn't, he owned the fact that we were taking pictures and we kept right on shooting to great results.

Never settle for "Just", "Good Enough" or "Only"
I hate hearing those phrases come out of any bride or groom's mouth. Life is short, we live once. Don't settle. If the choice is between staying here on the sidewalk for a shot that is "good enough" or embracing in the middle of the street (while obeying traffic laws) and getting an amazing shot, why in the world would you stay on the sidwalk? Because you are embarrassed?
If the choice is - take a picture here on the edge of the parking lot, where it will be "good enough" and we can "just stay here" or we can walk an extra five minutes to a location with the most beautiful sunset light that will frame the two of you amazingly, and put you five minutes later to your cocktail hour - then go for it - take that five minute walk. Do it. Be bold. Decide that going that extra step will pay you big dividends - because it will.


Trust Me.
As much as I want every one of my couples to absolutely look like themselves in their images - sometimes you all have to be pushed to expose that. I'm more fearless than likely I should be, but I think that is what helps make me the photographer you chose. So when I tell you that if you go sit on the edge of that roof there will be a great picture in it; believe that I know what I'm talking about. Yeah, it might be dirty, yeah it might not look like the most bucolic location, but I see something you don't. And, I see the final result with lighting, camera lenses and editing all factored in. I would never put you in harm's way, but I will ask you to do some things that you might not have thought of - which quite frankly, is why you hired me. So trust in your choice by trusting my direction and we will have a winning combination.
Once on a wedding shoot I had set up a shot with the bridesmaids and bride, and just as I was about to click the picture - one bridesmaid jumped out of the shot and declared she didn't think she looked good in it. I was devestated. I never want anyone to feel as if I would purposely take a picture that would not put them in the best possible light. A quick conversation revealed that she felt too close to the camera - when I explained that I had a wide lens on and she was actually farther away than she thought from the camera's perspective, we were all good, she went back into place, we got the shot, and it was great. The lesson here is trust though. Trust that I will only take amazing pictures of you - that even if you think something looks weird or won't turn out - I know things you don't about the angle, the equipment, the lighting, or whatever and it will turn out better than you could have imagined.

Follow my "What you can Do" pointers.
Truthfully, the ways in which you can invest in your photography experience are numerous, and the above list really only deals with some of the emotional and behavioral ones. Every consideration you make in respect to your photography increases the returns on your investment, and so I encourage you to click on the "What you can do" listing to the right and explore the rest of this series. The real bottom line is that I aim for every one of my clients to not just have great pictures, but to have a great experience achieving those pictures, and committing to and investing in your photography in these ways will allow that.