Featuring LPJ Photography Senior Spokesmodel, Taylor Crocker, Sanderson High School C/O 2017

My first job was working as a lifeguard during the summers during high school.  One of my

duties was teaching swimming lessons.  It was then that I realized I had a love and a gift for teaching, and though I never set foot as a professional in a classroom, I have spent my life teaching and coaching people to expand their knowledge, and to become better versions of themselves.  The world was my classroom, and I have tried to apply my love for education to many situations around me, from teaching my children to read, to teaching Sunday School and Youth Groups, to coaching cheer.  I tackle my Photography Sessions with the same philosophy.  It is my job to teach my clients how they can look their best in a picture.

There is a saying floating around somewhere that pictures don’t lie.  But they CAN!  At least I HOPE they can, because I have seen more than one photo of myself where I have thought, “Oh my GOSH!  PLEASE tell me I don’t really look like that!”

The truth is that angles, posing, and light do make a difference in what we see in an image.  Working the angles and utilizing the light is my job as the photographer, but I see it as part of my job to educate my clients on what I have learned about posing.  It is my responsibility to teach them how to position their bodies to create the most accurate and beautiful version of who they are.  How I pose men is entirely different from how I pose women.  I want to share a few of the tricks I have learned about posing women with you here.

If It Bends, Bend It:  Our bodies are made for movement.  Stiff, locked out joints look unnatural and uncomfortable in a photograph, so get loose.  There are very few people who feel comfortable in front of the camera, and we hold tension by squeezing.  I am constantly telling my clients to bend their arms, or soften their hands.  Even bending our bodies a tiny bit results in a more relaxed, natural look.

Chin Out and Down:  This is going to sound like I have done a total 180 on what I just said about being natural, but I didn’t promise that my posing will FEEL natural and relaxed, just that it would LOOK natural and relaxed.  Posing is all about creating length and space, so my clients will hear me say 1,000 times in a session to push their shoulders down, pull their chin away from their bodies, and slightly down.  I get the fact that they probably feel a little like a turtle, but doing that elongates their neck and looks oh so beautiful!

The last instruction I gave Taylor before taking this photograph was “Chin out and down.”  See?  It works!

In this pose, I had Taylor square to the camera, but asked her to kick her hip back to create curves.

Push Back = Smaller, Push Forward = Bigger:  It is an optical illusion that things that are closer to the camera will look bigger than things that are further away.  In most of my standing posing, I will have my women kick their back hip away from the camera.  Doing so also often creates an S-shape in her body, which looks feminine and beautiful.

Just Say No to Big White Eyes:  I often have the people I photograph look away from the camera.  But when I say “look that way,” what I really mean is “turn your chin that way.”  When someone leaves their chin forward but looks away with their eyes only, we tend to get a huge white space where we would naturally assume the colorful iris to be, and it looks icky.  Once I get my shot with the model looking away, I may ask her to pull her eyes back toward me.  In that shot, I want her chin to remain angled away from the camera, while her gaze is on me.  I believe eyes can be the windows to the soul, so unless I purposely want eyes closed or looking down, I want to see them!

This shot came dangerously close to having not worked because Taylor’s eyes were focused a bit too much to the right of the picture.  Ideally I may have had her turn her chin a little more or brought her eyes back over her nose a bit.  I CAN see the crystal hazel blue of her eyes though, her expression is so serene, and the backlighting in her hair is so majestic, that this actually ended up being one of my favorite captures from her session.

In the end though, the last thing I want my clients to do is overthink what their bodies are doing.  It is my job to worry about what I see, and correct what needs correcting.  I tell my clients that the best way to look great in a photograph in one of my sessions is to relax, trust me to make them look their best, and to have fun.  After all,  this is an experience they are CHOOSING to have, and my goal is for it to be a joyful pampering for everyone who chooses me to share it with them!

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