That wasn't an easy task for me. When Jem asked me to pose for her in a shoot, I felt very flattered that she wanted me to be her model. But then reality kicked in: "Do I even know how to pose?!"
For me, it is way easier to direct, to make people relax, to see the beauty and capture it, but let someone do that with me? That is a whole new story! I was excited and terrified, I told her I wouldn't be flawless as all her models however I would try my best.
It took me some time, but I finally managed to relax a bit after the first pictures. I trusted her and I put myself into the role. I was being a "model" for a day, so I worked on that idea. And I thought: oh well, there is always photoshop!
Jokes aside, I decided I will write some tips and tricks I used during the shoot. I will do a second shoot with Jem ( sign that I may have done okay if she wants to use me as a model again!), so if I learn any other techniques I will share it with you here!
The main idea, or the number 1 rule you have to follow is:
Forget about the camera. Easier said than done, I know, but here is how you can achieve that:
- Talk with the photographer: He/she may give you some directions or ideas what to think of to keep your mind off the camera.
- Look away and then look straight into camera.
- If you are very photosensitive: if you blink ten thousand times like I do, just tell the photographer you will close your eyes and open them when he/she will tell you to make sure you don't blink on the picture.
- Move your body: swing your body a little bit staying on the same spot. You can even do couple of steps if it works for the pose. It will give some natural movement and will also help you to be less tense.
- Breath in, breath out. It just helps to relax your whole body and specially your shoulders.
- Fake a laugh: it helps to relax your mouth. It feels a bit weird, but it will make you really laugh and that will also relax you. I wish I could give you more tips on that, but I was terrible at keeping my mouth relaxed. I think I was putting a bit of a bulldog face, poor Jem! I will need to work on it.
- A weird one but...I started to look right into the lens, checking the blades and the structure inside the lens. Yep, just being a bit of a a camera nerd. I have never been very technical when it comes to cameras, but lately I am just more and more curious about it. Weird enough, It basically distracted me from the fact that a camera was pointing at me, ha!
Do you have any other tips that you could share for people who is having their pictures taken?
Feel free to share them here!
