Week 2: Posing & Perspectives

Do you ever feel like a "Poser"?

I must be honest with y'all. Posing SCARES me. It makes me uncomfortable. Telling someone else what to do takes me out of my comfort zone. I think it's because when I do give direction, I start to feel like a "poser" (a person pretending to be something they are not). And yes, I find it ironic that this is the week my insecurities start to come out.

So there I was... with this totally awesome camera, this gorgeous model, nice overcast day, and what do I do? My head goes into the forbidden zone of thinking "I'm not good enough". I had all of these gosh darn nay-saying thoughts that came from nowhere and shocked the hizzell out of me!! Thoughts like, if these pics don't turn out good, it's all your fault. All of the variables are golden. You're the only variable that has the potential to suck.

I no longer had my "sixth sense" directing me during the shoot. I scared it away with all the nay-saying crap that was going on. It was all up to me and my brain that I fired two seconds ago. I internally PANICKED. I went BLIND. I wasn't seeing things how I normally see them when I'm behind the camera. I forgot my game plan. I quickly started taking pics without looking at them to make sure everything was how I wanted it. And it became the shortest shoot I've ever done- 10 minutes! Now of course I wasn't acting like anything was wrong, but I wasn't my bubbly self interacting with her like I normally would have. My brain was too busy fighting with itself.

I'm a total believer in the power of positive thinking (or negative thinking). And in this case, I think I had sabotaged myself by going into the shoot all nervous about my insecurities of telling people what to do. I find it interesting that I'm learning all sorts of life lessons through photography. Who knew :) I would love to hear any thoughts on this about overcoming fears.

Theme of the week: Contemplation

Initial pose

Subject changing perspective

Changing my perspective

Changing my perspective and pose (smile)

This is a different pose but in the same spot. We had walked away, but I asked her to go back for one more pic that I had just thought of :)

The beautiful model is my husband's cousin, Ashlynn, who was in town for the holiday. She's not only gorgeous, but she is also a rock star in my book. LOVE HER!! Oh, and the beautiful backdrop was provided by Grandma Austin's lilac bush.

This assignment was challenging for me, but I had no idea I could get these kinds of pics in 10 minutes in one spot, just by changing my perspective and the subject's perspective!! I'm definitely going to practice practice practice doing things this way!!!!