Lessons

Lesson Info

Posing Q&A

I'm just proposing would you have a riding groom on dh you're going from like uh kind of a soft moment or you know their eyes closed something shoulder like you said and then you go to another kind of pose you kind of have a former in your head where you'll start with the fun stuff get all that away and then do the stuff that looked like it was kind of your transition in between those two what happened uh the transition is felt by the couple I think the couple dictates a lot what I could dio if they don't really want to be fun or funky on their wedding day well then I have to know yeah get like a pulse reading of what they want who they are but no I don't have like a a rhythm or anything how I approach it some areas I think would be conducive to like funnier or like fun poses because you have a little bit more space to work with but no I don't have something like thought out actually um and we have a lunch break scheduled at one o'clock so I'm gonna try to stay I just realized it right...

now so I just want to stay as close to possible to the timeline so I think I'm gonna just try to finish this as quickly as possible and if we have time we can do more questions or take more questions so there's this idea that I blogged about not too long ago and it kind of hit me because a lot of times people ask well I spoke in st louis last week and there was a gentleman in the audience and his wife texted him because she couldn't go and she said ask jasmine how she gets her clients tio I think she said look sexy I don't never try to make my client's look sexy I don't think that's like my trajectory my goal is to make them feel beautiful and if beauty translates into multiple descriptions that's okay but I think the idea lies how do you get women to feel beautiful and ok and so I decided to address this notion on my block because I think that we live in a society that um either I don't know I don't want to get like deep and philosophical so I'll stay away from that basically the idea of the block post wass the permission to feel beautiful and as photographers we need to remind our clients that in this given point in time there's no judgment there's only ever endorsement for their relationship and who they are and I know that whenever I have had my picture taken I've had great experiences and then I've had not so great experiences I was made to feel comfortable and then was made to feel extraordinarily uncomfortable and through this experience it's allowed me the air on the side of always making somebody feel beautiful and even if that means some girls can ease right into it some girls are confident um but most girls are not so I'll start shooting a session and um either I said at the beginning or I'll shoot a little bit to get a pulse on the energy and I don't know if that's like a weird word to use like it sounds like I collect lake jules or something in the house but you can't get a pulse as you shoot people and if I feel like she's not opening she's not letting go the last engagement session I shot in los angeles we were shooting and of course she's nervous and if they're self proclaimed self proclaimed library nerds in med school right and so she comes and she's looking dolled up and beautiful and she's not letting herself feel beautiful and I think that we've all experienced this at some point another where a girl just won't let go she won't let go of her trepidation but have you addressed that with her have you come out and said it's okay and the notion of this idea is something that I fully embrace because we have to remind people that in our spear when they're in front of our cameras it is oh at least my clients again my cuppa tea it is okay to feel absolutely breathtaking in this moment you had your hair done you have your makeup done you're an acute l fit and you are surrounded by a man who's willing and voluntary volunteering to spend the rest of his life with you feel beautiful feel hot let it go I'm not and I tell my clients I'm not in the other side of my camera thinking what is she doing who this shaving she is I'm a behind my camera if a girl comes out and like marie's case because she wasn't letting go I couldn't get her toe feel beautiful because she's beautiful I couldn't get her to feel beautiful and that translates so differently in photography so you want to get a normal girl and make her look like a model but are you giving her permission to do that it works I mean of course it would work for maya cell photography so I tell her I'm not behind my camera thinking or asking what are you doing why are you doing that I'm saying give me that look and I will start in a hotel as we shoot I will instruct laura the same way laura I want in victoria moto contend that you're laura and I'm going to say laura I want you to give me a myriad of looks and of this myriad of looks I'm only going to choose one or two not gonna choose the funky ones I only want you to feel beautiful so when I look at you when I look at you I want you to give me everything you have I want you to get in your car and I want you to go get champagne tonight with billy I want you to toast tto awesome pictures but you want to get this ass and pictures I need you to bring it so we can get our gonna bring it oh yeah ok good so I'm gonna show you a few things that I want you to dio and you can copy me or you can make it all your own but when I want you to smile because I know that we're used to smiling like okay look I don't want all your pictures to be full smiles so I want you out I'm gonna have you do it for real right okay so can you do this good this this that's okay that's okay I have like I kind of have like street here so it's like flat so it's just like I just want you to tilt your head this way I want you to smile I want to have fun if you want to laugh I want youto laugh if you want to toil away in this world if it doesn't work nothing is wrong I should digitally I have a time so I want you to feel good I want you to shake up your shoulders and I want you to bring it to me that conversation has to happen in order for somebody to blossom in front of you and part of what I wrote about uh um a little bit of what I'll read thats ok I dont we weren't able to be able to project it but I think that when I write a little bit more together when I think because clearly I'm all over the place in more practical terms I believe people sometimes need permission to be honest even when it hurts permission to be really even if it's awkward and more relatable for girls the permission to feel beautiful it's a funny thing for me to even write but I've been thinking about this for months and I'm fully convinced of this notion yes there the rare species of females who are okay in their own skin namely the seven foot spandex wearing blond with the blue eyes who sits in the front row of my spin class but for the most of us it's not that easy especially when it happens when it has to happen in front of the camera when I shoot my clients it take a few seconds to let them know that in that moment between us it is totally okay to feel beautiful I'm not behind my camera thinking to myself what is she doing in fact it's quite the opposite my insides beg for a girl to blossom confidently in front of my camera so street when she gets back to the car with her fiance she feels a radiant and she feels loves I loved when that happens I've done my job if your photographer I want to encourage you to remind your clients that they have the permission to feel beautiful but don't say it like that I gave you the permission to feel beautiful that's just weird but you get the idea remind your clients it's okay for lip for them to let their guard down and commit to getting this hive of pictures they've always wanted it really does go a long way that's what I want to talk about today because it's a conversation I will be having with laura both today and also tomorrow although tomorrow it'll probably easier because she will have gone through a little bit of a thing so that's kind of the conversation that I have with my bride's encourage people to have the same conversation it's very uncomfortable to have your picture taken if you haven't had your picture professionally taken I definitely think that you should give it a run one hundred percent pay for nice head shots get uncomfortable like um you can't help a client get uncomfortable yeah you can't help a client get comfortable if you haven't experienced being uncomfortable so that it's always like a good thing um also getting the types of images that you want I had mentioned to the class in class yesterday um that's getting images that are really rich selective of your brand or your personal style is a big thing I I spoke about that today on my block I'm a photographer but I'm also a purveyor of style sounds kind of fancy right I'm a professor a purveyor of my style how can I get my clients teo emulate what I want them to emulate so my photography style is fun fresh and fabulous a little bit if it is neither fun or fresh or fierce it probably won't make the block and that's like a rule of thumb that I've applied to myself now my photography style is not for everybody and I totally get that nor should it be one thing I want to clear friends I don't want other people to feel like oh I have to do it that way no if you were a romantic photographer so sometimes if you are like a romantic soul tree and evocative how can you take pictures that allows you to get those words transferred on the web are you posing your client's in ways that translates to what your brand aesthetic is I have I have an inclination to post frequent pictures of clients laughing on my block one I do this because it furthers my brand but to I also do it because I know that it plays to my advantage I can get people to laugh I'm probably looking like a fool but I get them toe laugh that to me please to my advantage because it's something that a lot of people can't d'oh people are attracted I always think that girls are the most beautiful they laughed of course maybe not the most attractive but the most beautiful you know I really like the last creases the big teeth the scratch knows I like that a lot and so we'll use that to my advantage but that might not be your style today I want you to think about the words that you would use to describe your style and then we have opportunities to shoot lauren billy I will be shooting him for a bit of time and then we might be able to pass the clients over to you so you will then become ideally so depend on the timeline ideally each of you guys would have like maybe five eight minutes teo get a solid pole is that you want but again I don't want you posing o lord have mercy if you guys get all straight call now you do not come to seattle you do not come to seattle to get billy like this uh and laura like this okay a brick wall is a brick wall is a brick wall uncle bob can put billy in the pelican stands and homegirl right next to her what are you gonna dio to define your style you have billi ons loyal I think laura's that's gonna rock it out I think she's a beautiful girl but I think she's gonna be smoking today I really do um we have gorgeous models we have time we have breathe ability this is an optimal shooting experience this is you're babe ruth opportunity I don't need you guys to get thirty fifty pictures to go in your portfolio I need you to get one picture two pictures you want to get branded and signature style photographs because what you want to show on your website our photographs not for your current clients but for your future clients know if you can show soul tree evocative and emotional photography you will then be able to shoot soulful evocative and emotional people I was falling great self fulfilling prophecy um this idea of previous civilization and we're gonna be closing the section of a little bit this is idea like last night I was talking about how I was thinking how I could approach a stay I don't necessarily um plan poses in advance because like I said on light location and a client comfortable ability are three major factors in this but I'm always thinking of ideas in my mind if they work for today or if they work next week or if they work next month ideas ideas ideas ideas what can we do to make on otherwise uh static environment come to life so again if you fail to plan you plan to fail so my planning consisted of just ideas just thinking outside the box just thinking of all the mag cousin clippings that I have saved from the past to really try to push me and propel me I know that people are watching today so I have to just think it's not the internet it's going to be the five of us and we're going to be poets like six of us j d will be shooting teo so it'll be the six of us and we're gonna shoot I'm gonna learn from their seven there's seven I was home schooled okay you know what I mean and that's another thing oh my god twitters and blow up there's me some home school mom being like don't listen I love homeschooling okay I loved it I loved it I'm gonna hire my mom to homeschool future adopted child when that happens okay and my moms it's like no anyway okay I'm sorry I'm talking too much okay here yet but really thinking about those ideas in advance is a really really good thing so I don't want to throw you guys the wolves think about the things that you guys want to start duty doing but then again when the time comes factor in the available light the location and how comfortable laura and billy are but when you guys were given that opportunity and what you have to step up and confidently approach them if you are just like um well I was kind of thinking that maybe um yeah let's do this you know uh didn't work so well any time I got I'm not one hundred percent poser I get awful stupid poses in those times though I'm saying oh no that doesn't work no absolutely not you shoot it say o great guys build up the confidence make them like make them feel it's not their job that you put them in a dumb pose how come you're you can't just say oh that doesn't work because then automatically the subjects feel it's their fault right so you shoot it like okay awesome oh regardless if this works the lighting is beautiful you're looking gorgeous now let's try something else fix it from that point never just stop it made through because they don't think definitely break the mood in this tonality of the shoe so I think we have a couple minutes for questions and then we'll take a lunch break and then chase will come back at to he will be introducing us and there's gonna be a few more people joining on I hope I think um maybe I'm not allowed to say it if I get in trouble I don't know I have no idea anyway so they were going to be posting something on ustream for people who are interested in seeing a bride and groom seeing each other before the ceremony and photographers and things of that nature so chase will be doing that introduction at two o'clock for all those new you streamers coming in who don't have any idea what we're doing and then I will go through it all talking about like set up we'll do a little bit of set up what will happen for the first look will shoot the first look then we will shoot laura and billy for about an hour and then we'll do more q and a are we cool okay so let's d'oh it's twelve fifty four right now so I think we could squeeze into the two questions I really really really want to get to those questions uh oh you need to see a picture I mom she's on my block type of search mom jasmine can I just ask you a question about the groom's about grooms posing yes um a lot of people online were asking how you are they more difficult are they you know more grilled if for they are the easy are they amount available like depend to build off that question in mandir oid on twitter also asked do you have brides who are a great fit but grooms who want no part of the photography and she finds it difficult to to deal with it well I have a tendency to attract attract girls who subscribe to the belief that like happy wife is happy life most guys do not most guys aren't like oh you're being julie goldberger's I'm so happy to be on this engagement shoot they're not but their girlfriend their fiance is like oh baby I've waited for this his lego I also encourage before the engagement session I email those girls in like can you please have your fiance watched three slide shows that changed a huge thing for me because ah lot of times I was getting I was being met with reluctance guys who are like the quintessential like I'm gonna get haters on twitter for this too but the quintessential frat boy you know like that I'm too cool like no I'm disinterested this just for her at the end of the day I think that girls want beautiful and guys wanna look cool and if the guys know that I'm on ly there to make them look cool and half like we all know girls are harder than guys right so a lot of times guys air marrying out of their league we know this so anytime that you can accentuate the fact that the girl's very pretty and he's very lucky to be with her any mixing look cooler I mean I know it but we shouldn't say this stuff they probably shouldn't but it's kind of what I believe make him look cool her with beautiful and everybody's happy no if you prepare men advance for that type of experience he goes entrusting you because three slide shows and the guy's consistently looking handsome cool strong confident that's gonna allow him give him the permission to come in and feel confident strong cool lucky to be with his really pretty girl so that has been a big thing so no I don't necessarily feel intimidated by it I should maybe I don't know okay any other questions yes jasmine have a question that's combined with what I'm seeing online is in my own I used to shoot a lot of black and white film and now it's so easy to just shoot in color and then do black and white later do you think differently when you're shooting about things that you might want to turn into black and white versus what you're shooting to be in color because well with film I usedto he thinks differently when I was looking in black and white and do you do that when you photograph because a lot of clients do look for black and white way images no okay I should have a deep insert teo if I was really artistic I would be like so this feeling that I get this commentated dark area no I don't I shoot the picture so that I feel confident that the picture however I am inclined when guys are getting ready I love making a lot of those pictures back away there's just this cool vibe it's a little bit more masculine stronger food here it's evocative I am inclined to do that but I don't ever think like my photo if I did I would shoot in camera black and white like the chromatic like setting in my camera if I really felt like it had to be black or white I would change it to that but for the most part I'm just focused on you know getting getting the shot yes you want to do one more yeah sorry um question thatjust came up is if you get flustered during a shoot especially at a wedding how do you refocus yourself quickly and do you give up or move on or do you make sure you get the shot it's depends I don't have a card in fast rule like oh this doesn't work I'm giving up if I give all fight for it I'll fight for it but you know sometimes it doesn't mark but again like it go back shoot it feel like ok you know warn them I always if I feel like it's a one time this girl wanted to stand on this log in the middle of a field and was bright bright sun and I'm like why does she want to stand on the log it wasn't even special to her but she wanted to stand on the log and socialites analog like sand in the log but after she got off I told her like I don't think that that will work so well because the light was ruby really harsh if I could make it work in photoshopped and of course we'll add it but if I don't think it can it couldn't I mean so bright her clothes are going out on her face was black like you know but I want her in advance and there's no guarantee like as specifically for engagement sessions because they're controlled settings average on average engagement session will yield around sixty two sixty five images so the clients are at least my clients are no well in advance that they won't be getting every single picture and if I already told him it probably wouldn't work it probably wouldn't um holly true asked a question on twitter and she asked if I if I feel like having j d there puts the guys at ease and they do I totally feel that jd is like a sleeping dragon he's a total asset to my business like I mentioned yesterday he's a chameleon he will hang out with whatever guys are around and um he's totally non obtrusive and most guys as they get ready I don't want to be like all photographed they just wanna hang out have a good time and he'll do stand in the corner and make them feel comfortable and that's all that I need so yes it's a total asset to have somebody like that it helps that he's a male it does it I totally think it does