Now, I can’t take all the credit for a slight change in this posing, but I will say that it reinforced a lesson for me in how I communicate to my clients while photographing them. I had been telling Lindsay to get closer to Clint (“Yup, just a little bit closer…a little bit closer…”) Taking a look at what I was getting on my camera’s screen, (first one) I let Lindsay know “You look gorgeous Lindsay! Absolutely beautiful.” And, all of a sudden, she got even closer to Clint and straightened her posture just slightly and we got my favorite shot of the morning (second one):
I didn’t give Lindsay that compliment hoping she’d change her position. I genuinely felt (and still do feel) that she’s gorgeous and the photos we were getting (backlit at 8:30am—yes, please!) were beautiful. Maybe a thought inside her said, “Oh, my posture!” I don’t know. But that coincidental event, that happened literally in an instant, reinforced to me that encouragement given from behind the camera instills some confidence and negates some of the awkwardness. And I get to keep communicating with my clients friends that they are beautiful or handsome! It’s a win-win.
