Alright, alright, alright...
So here’s the thing.
People love to hate photos, right? Or, rather themselves in photos.
What’s happened?
Photography used to be such a treasured art - fading prints cherished by children and grandchildren and stories told...
My parents have a briefcase full of old photos and my grandparents have various albums and loose stashes... these are invaluable to me.
But somewhere down the line (can we blame social media?) we have lost that loving feeling and as a result, appear in GOOD QUALITY photos less and less.
I am going to go there, but those snaps with puppy ear and cat whiskers filters will not make the cut of treasured imagery.
Hands up, who’s guilty?
And I know that we all have 1,000,000,001 reasons for why we aren’t featuring in our own family photos. Heck, guilty as charged myself (though, working hard on redemption this year)!
So, today I’ve decided to dispel some of the (false) reasons for why you may be reluctant to have your family photos taken and soon I will follow up with another blog, with my top tips on how to make this session ENJOYABLE (that’s right, it’s possible!).
Let’s go bust some excuses:
You think you look terrible in photos.
Classic.
Oh man, this has got to be the hardest myth to dispel and in my eyes it shouldn’t even cross anyone’s mind!
I have said it time and time again that if I had £1 for every time I had a client ‘warn’ me about how un-photogenic they are and then ROCK the shoot, I’d be sipping champagne on my own super yacht docked somewhere near Saint Tropez right now!
I have even joked that I may add a premium as punishment for those types of clients!
So, believe it when your partner tells you that you’re beautiful, your friends mention how much your new hair suits you and your kids say how gorgeous you are!
And THE MOST important thing... at the end of the day, these images are not being taken to send to a modelling agency, for some random person to assess and appreciate your beauty.
These photos are being created so that you can look at them in 5, 10, 20... years and realise just exactly HOW beautiful you really are right now.
And, if you’ve got children, these images will be an invaluable treasure and keepsake for them to look at time and time again, admiring the way their mom and dad looked once upon a time.
You hate posing.
Well, you’re in luck!
When you come on a photo session with me, there’s not much posing involved... I mean, yes, I’ll ask you to face me at some points and might encourage to smile, but overall, I aim for my sessions to feel like a lovely day out, time spent with your beloved family.
We go for a walk somewhere beautiful, you have fun playing, chatting and reconnecting.
Most of the times when a mom (always a mom :)) books a session, she ‘warns’ me that her partner ‘hates’ posing for photos and the kids ‘may not behave’.
Ha, lady!
I’ve got at least one of each of those at home and pride myself on hearing at the end of each session that ‘it wasn’t so bad’ from the dads and becoming fast buds with the little ones (I’d like to think it’s not all about the bribes I find in my pockets ;)).
So, don’t worry, I’ll gently guide you at the session, but won’t make you (or the rest of your tribe) do anything that doesn’t feel natural or comfortable!
Your kids/animals/husband won’t behave.
Oh, but they will!
They will surprise you, because there’s a silly lady with a weird thing in her hands chasing them around.
Yes, it may take a little while to warm up to my witty charms, but we’ll get there.
The way my sessions are structured is very much ‘client-led’ - this means that we will continuously follow the lead of your family and I won’t force a child to smile or husband to do silly posing.
This will all come naturally.
I have a bag of tricks that I like to whip out at various points and one of them is bound to work, so we’ll crack them and you’ll be surprised by the images you see in your viewing gallery!
You’ve got 1,000,000,000 photos on your iPhone and they are ‘good enough’.
Sure!
As someone with 63,917 (and counting) files in my iPhone Photos, I agree that your phone is a useful tool to have on hand to capture everyday moments and those spontaneous snapshots.
However, if you truly value preserving these memories in something more than just a ‘snapshot’, then chances are, your phone won’t help you with that.
I take a tonne of photos every day - I absolutely love the fact that I can take 20 photos of my toddler eating breakfast or baby munching on his toes - without worrying about selecting the best image, editing it and then safely storing in a folder with other ‘Pick of The Year’ images .
However, I absolutely hate the fact that this is exactly what happens - I take the pic, I send it to my family, at best I’ll share it on Instagram (probably in Stories) and... forget about it.
When I take photos with my ‘big girl’ camera, those images get special treatment (no matter how trivial subject matter) and will see the light of day in a photobook at least, perhaps framed on a window sill, maybe even as wall art.
So all those countless images on your phone - unless you’re the most organised person I know - are likely going to stay right there.
Whether you see photography as a luxury or a necessity, investing in a professional service is going to take it to another level in so many ways!
You just haven’t had the time to look into it...
You’re in luck and look no further!
Click here: ichtefan@icloud.com
You’re welcome 😇
Are you converted? Have I got you thinking?
Are you not even slightly tempted to face your own self and get this done?
I guarantee that you will cherish the result of your bravery for years to come and your children will thank you for it someday...
Chtefan. Photography is a family lifestyle portrait and commercial business photographer based in Laurencekirk, Aberdeen - Scotland.
I specialise in beautiful, natural photography of children and families and professional and environmental portraits and headshots.
Chtefan. Photography covers the following areas: Montrose, Inverbervie, Arbroath, Ellon, Westhill, Banchory, greater Aberdeenshire and Angus region and would be delighted to travel on both national and international assignments.
Классные фотачки :-) XXX