How to be Photogenic

Here’s a secret: As a photographer, I know that basically no one feels confident about getting photos taken. Nearly every client warns me that they are terrible in photos.

If you have ever had thoughts like “I’m not photogenic.” “I’m super bad at getting photos taken.” “I’m such an awkward person.” you are not alone.
But when you are at a point where you really need and want photos of yourself, there are some things you can do to feel more confident.

Prepare beforehand

• Plan your outfit. It should be something you are comfortable wearing and that you feel nice in.

• Consider getting professional hair and/or makeup for your shoot.

  Making your session a special day is an awesome way to trick yourself into having fun! Think about getting your hair and makeup professionally styled, or another way that you like to celebrate yourself.

• Communicate with your photographer. Letting them know that you feel nervous, or about preferences for angles can help them guide you into poses that result in photos you love. A good photographer will do this anyway but more communication can never be a bad thing.

  Focus on props and activities during the shoot.

• Bring three things that represent you and your interests. The props you bring also depend on the purpose of your photoshoot but some ideas include; tools you use to complete your work, items you use for your hobbies like a paintbrush or knitting needles, a childhood favorite toy, or anything you have in your life that represents a part of you.

• Having something to interact with can get your mind off of feeling self-conscious. The resulting photos look real because you are doing something real!
  My branding clients have activities built into their sessions, massage therapists can give a massage, or an artist can work a little on their painting for a photoshoot.

  Family and portrait clients can have activities like games, showing a hobby, or twirling a fancy dress.

Prepare your mind

• Go into it knowing that you can trust yourself and your photographer.

  It’s totally normal to feel nervous, but as the session goes on, you’ll start to relax. Trust your photographer, embrace the experience, and don’t stress about getting everything “perfect.” The best photos capture real moments, not staged perfection.

So next time you step in front of the camera, remember: plan well, give yourself something to do, and most importantly, have fun with it! You’ll be amazed at how much more confident you feel—and how great your photos turn out.

Need a photographer who’ll help you feel comfortable and confident? Let’s chat!

Staying Positive When Nothing Is

Let’s start off this post with a disclaimer, and a confession.

The disclaimer is that I am not a mental health professional, I am simply attempting to spread some positivity by sharing advice.

And now the confession: I have been writing this same post since the summer of 2020. It’s been mostly finished for about 6 months and I haven’t been able to press “publish”. I think it’s been difficult to post because I’m worried about saying the wrong thing or forgetting to say the right thing. I especially don’t want anyone to read this and then feel like their negative feelings are invalidated. But considering that mass shootings, instances of racism, and other terrible things just keep happening, I’m compelled to share some thoughts about positivity and joy even when really real and unbelievably wrong things are happening.

1. Don’t listen to fear

This point is first because it’s one that is really close to me. I always try to make my decisions after I filter out fear. My whole life people have been teaching me how to be afraid.

As both a teacher and a photographer people unfailingly warn me how easy it is to fail in both of my chosen professions, especially how hard it will be to make good money. But I don’t listen to them because they are not living my life. I know that I have to try these things. I understand that there are risks in life. But even when people around you are reminding you about scarcity, try to remember- you just need enough for you.

Maybe you’re worried about getting a job, or starting a business, or applying to your dream school. Wanting to improve your life can feel hopeless when it seems like there’s scarcity for everyone. But it’s still possible to have a good life and improve your situation even during hard things that affect your whole country and world.

Maybe you can’t do everything you want but there is always something that you can do. You only need to get that one right interview, or meet that one right person, or the one right fill-in-the-blank. I promise there is enough success in the world to go around and you deserve a piece of it. So when you’re making plans my advice is to listen to the voices that are constructive, even if the only positive voice you hear is the one in your heart.

2. Focus on what you can control

Does anyone else hear their mom’s voice reading that heading? My mom gives good advice. Often things happen that we can’t control that feel impossible to deal with. Things like not being able to pay the bills, or having general anxiety feel really helpless, and I’ve definitely been there for many hard situations in my own life.

But while we’re dealing with those things it doesn’t help to also focus on small complaints. Nitpicking people and things around you is only going to worsen and prolong negativity. It’s so tempting to feel angry at other people who are making wrong choices. I know anger is my go-to in wrong situations. When I’m in a healthy place I acknowledge my angry feelings and then try to identify actions that I can take.

There are people all around me shouting ways to help others in need. It helps to focus on those actions and make a plan instead of wallowing in helplessness. There’s rarely a time when nothing we can do will help, especially in our own community and/or family space.

3. Feel it out

Sometimes in order to let go of negative feelings like anger or grief, it can help to acknowledge those feelings, facing them head-on. If you ignore every negative feeling those toxic thoughts will build up, you have to let those things out. And this is life, we’re all human with the whole range of human emotions. It’s ok to be really angry for a time, or sad or depressed, or literally anything you feel. Feel it fully so you can ultimately move on.

I hope these ideas are encouraging. I can’t understand everything you’re feeling and going through but I can say I feel for you and I’m going through it too! You’re really strong and you can make it through anything. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. It can’t hurt to ask.

Some additional resources and topics that may be helpful:

Happiness: The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin

Mental Health- You can text HOME to 741741 to talk with a crisis counselor at any time. It’s free and includes the whole United States. https://www.crisistextline.org/

Mental Health America has information specifically about Covid, as well as many other resources: https://mhanational.org/covid19

Antiracism: There are so many resources it’s difficult to choose which ones to list. A quick google search finds pages of information on this topic. Some people that I follow personally are @taimaniemeraldcreative, @moemotivate, and @glographics

Good News: Goodgoodgoodco is a newspaper, newsletter, and podcast that only reports good news. It’s based in Portland OR but reports on things all around the world. https://www.goodgoodgood.co/

I would love for this list to be a dynamic resource so comment below if you have an idea of one that would be helpful and I’ll add it in!

Anatomy of a Branding Photo Session

What does it look like to get branding photos done? This is an important distinction because it’s actually pretty different from a personal photo session. I’ll talk about the reasons why that is in this post as well as walk you through the whole process from start to finish.

General Things to Consider

In no particular order:

The main difference between branding/commercial photography and other types of photography is something called usage. A wedding photographer takes photos of a person’s amazing life event but their clients are only using the final photos for personal use. Branding photography is used by a business to help them advertise and reach more customers so those photos have a different value than photos that will be taken and displayed in someone’s home. The whole process is different for branding photography and many of the ways in which I choose to do things for my clients are based on the fact that the photos are used to help you grow a business.

Something I do, that not all brand photographers do, is I offer subscription photography services. My clients can contract a certain number of photo sessions in advance (usually a year). Doing this locks in the price in case my rates increase and I also provide a discount for subscribers. The reason I love doing this is that it really allows me to have a relationship with you. A single photo session is great but we can go so much farther once I know your business and you. It makes planning more productive because we will know exactly what you need the next time. And it makes my clients more comfortable to have a go-to photographer.

For a photography timeline, I recommend having about a month between booking photos and actually taking them. The reason is there are some preparation items that can take a while to fall into place. This time cushion will give you time to set the necessary preparations like buying clothes for outfits or booking a studio. The things you will need to prepare will vary but we’ll both breathe a little easier with some time to plan.

The Planning Stage

Once you have decided you need branding photos, it’s time to talk. I love talking with you in person about your vision for photos as it’s really the best way for us to get on the same page. Reach out to me on my CONTACT PAGE on my website and we will schedule a consultation. Most times I will plan a video call for us, but I have met for coffee at times. (I love physically meeting in person but that time commitment is not always realistic.) We will talk about your brand, what you will use the photos for, make a list of different photos to take, what to bring and what to wear. Knowing what will happen at the photos session will hopefully ease any worries about you photoshoot. I will help talk you through what props to bring and help you decide what to wear. After the meeting, I’ll send you a summary of our meeting through email. The summary will include the shot list of all the photos we’ll be getting and a packing list so you remember the props to bring the day of your session.

The Photo Session

On the day of your session, I will arrive early at our location so I can do any setup needed. There is no need for you to be early but please do be on time. I may have multiple sessions to shoot that day so it’s important for us to have all the time we planned for in order to complete your shot list. This day is all about celebrating you! By this point we will have planned out how the day goes so your focus can just be on being yourself and having fun. To see more about the day of experience, you can check out my post about a mini branding session. Pre-pandemic I did a short session with a local event planner at a very cute boutique hotel here in downtown Portland. That blog is actually my most popular so far, it’s definitely worth checking out! You can read that post HERE.

Turnaround

It will take 1-2 weeks for me to edit and send you your photos. I’ll choose the best photos of you based on our pre-planned shot list and then make some edits. My editing process includes things like color correction, taking out distracting objects, and giving them a professional finish. I don’t do any unnatural retouching because you are enough the way you are! With that being said I will do things like remove pimples that aren’t really a part of you. Generally when editing I like to keep the colors rich and natural, and make editing decisions that will empashize your beautiful self even with other elements being included in the different shots we’ve taken. You can see my work on my GALLERIES page and on my INSTA.

I believe that the key to customer service is good communication. Because of this, if anything changes during our process or in the case of human error that affects your project, I am dedicated to being open with you about that. The process outlined in this post is the standard I work with and if anything is special or different for your process I am committed to having transparency with you about that but for the most part, I’m saying that you can be confident that this is what your branding session will look like. I would love to hear any thoughts you have about my process. Have you had a branding session before? Did it go something like this? Feel free to comment on my blog or reach out to me on social media.

7 Quick Tips on Being Creatively Inspired

A lot of people have been telling me lately that they feel uninspired. I think that typically happens this time of year, at the end of summer when life is about to get really busy with school or work and it’s so hot you just want to lay in a bathtub of ice. The truth is, it’s natural to go through dry spells even for the most creative people. No one can be “on” all the time. But I have some tips for you if you’re feeling this way that will hopefully bring some pep back into your step.

• Do something small

I believe that most of the time, motivation is linked to momentum. When I’m feeling unmotivated I start out giving myself a small task to do, like organizing my desk or putting makeup on to get ready for the day. Then after I feel good about completing that one, I move on to something a little bigger.

• Have a Lazy Moment

Sometimes the best cure for not being inspired is to give yourself a break. Doing whatever you want for a few moments is really freeing. Usually doing something mindless, like scrolling through Facebook, reminds me that I really prefer working on my art.

• Take a Walk

A change of scenery does a lot of good for creative minds! Seeing something new, being in a different environment can really jump-start the imagination.

• Take a Snack Break

If you’re not feeling inspired, you might just be hungry. I recommend a banana with almond butter, that’s one of my tried and true quick snacks.

• Participate in a Hobby

When creative endeavors also pay the bills it can take the fun out of doing them. As creatives we need to find something that we can do just for fun without having to monetize every hobby. Some ideas are; making a collage out of old magazines, start a sticker collection, take a pottery class, arrange some flowers for your desk, or paint stars on your ceiling.

• Make a Pinterest Board

This tip is pretty obvious. Finding things you like on Pinterest and putting them all in one place to look at can give you a huge burst of inspiration! Sometimes even looking at boards I’ve made previously makes me inspired. I have one called “artistic inspiration” so I always start there.

• Make a Playlist

Music is all about feelings. Curating a playlist can help you feel the way you want to feel. Make a playlist for some of your most common moods and see how they change your point of view in the present moment.

I hope these ideas help! I admit nthey are all extremely simple, but simple reminders can also be good. Happy creating!

Why Branding?

What do you think of when you hear “photographer?” My guess is you thought of a wedding photographer.
Yes, wedding photography is a HUGE part of the industry but there are so many different types of photography. It took me a long time to learn this and explore other genres of photography before settling on branding. I would love to share more about what branding photography means to my story and what it could mean for you.

If being a photographer meant only having wedding clients, I would not be one! And for a while, I thought I wouldn’t be a photographer more than as a hobby. When I started out I assisted a friend in photographing a couple of weddings and it was amazing to get to do that but at the same time, I struggled to feel passionate about weddings. I really believe someone getting married deserves a photographer that is just as excited as they are and if I’m at a wedding, I’m super happy for the couple but also probably judging all the cheesiness at the same time, haha. It just wouldn’t be a good fit for me or for the client.
So I decided not to be a photographer. Taking photos would just a hobby for me so I could create what I wanted. But even after that decision, I could not stop thinking about it.

Finally one day I saw a quote that I couldn’t ignore. It said

“People who are less skilled than you are succeeding at your dream simply because they started first.”

That quote made me realize that I needed to make photography official and just start even though it seemed impossible. I officially started my business on December 1st, 2018. I spent about the next year trying all different types of photography and working on my creative project which you can read all about HERE.
After that year of trying senior portraits, fashion shoots, family photos, engagement portraits, and headshots and branding photos, I realized branding was my favorite. So in September of 2019 I announced that I was choosing to be a branding photographer.

Why did I like it the best?
I like that the projects are one-on-one with the client. I like that the project is focused on making them shine and succeed. I like that I can bring my creative ideas and style to someone else as a valuable contribution to their very important work. I like making the projects my own way, not boring and commercial and stuffy. But I get to show the world some beautiful people who are doing amazing work who are also real and have real obstacles to overcome.
I like making and breaking my own rules. Some branding photography, especially commercial photography, can seem stuffy and formal. I considered this when I was choosing brand photography. Would I have to wear a pantsuit? Would I be allowed to crack jokes and be my laid back self? Ultimately I realized that it’s my business and I can make it the way I want it.

My mission is to lift up small creative businesses by providing the photos they need to show the world their important work. Because of the process of planning that goes into a branding shoot, a branding photographer doesn’t just push the shutter button and call it a day. A branding photographer is an artist, a mentor, a synthesizer, a cheerleader, a broadcaster. It’s such a beautiful job and I don’t take it lightly.