For many of my wedding clients, the wedding day is their first or second experience being photographed professionally. They have an idea of how they want their images to look and feel, which influences how they select their photographer.
When I begin a session, I do a quick assessment of my clients, watching how they interact, how they move, and how they move together. Then I observe how each person interprets my direction- do they improvise, feel comfortable, feel awkward? Only then can I begin to get everyone to a place of comfort for some awesome photos! Here are a few things that can help improve your experience in front of the camera.
Breathe – With directions or a request for a specific movement or gesture, some clients stiffen up like mannequins and stop breathing; when I put my camera down they gasp for air. Everything is better when you breathe, I promise.
Face each other – To avoid the side-by-side pose seen in every casual photo ever taken of every couple everywhere in the history of couples and cameras and to achieve the romantic, intimate, and sometimes sexy feel of wedding portraiture, it is important to face one another and get close.
I’m not here – This experience is about the couple so it’s perfectly fine to pretend the photographer is not there. Occasionally you will be asked to “break the fourth wall” and look at the camera because there will be those who just want a more posed photo of the pair of you.
Keep moving – The more you move, the better everything looks. If you are placed in a particular position don’t get stuck there-move your hands, bring your heads together, pull them apart, embrace, pull away, kiss the forehead, the cheek, laugh, make a silly face, just keep moving and have fun!
Remember the camera – I know I just said pretend like the photographer is not there but think of yourself as stage actors playing to their audience. Play all of your movements towards the camera. Everything makes more sense when we can see it.
