Are you ready for Part 2?!!  Happy Monday Friends!

Let’s start the week off with one of my favorite populations to photograph!  High School Seniors!  But let’s start from the beginning of Day 2 of the CONFIDENCE Photography Workshop!

We started the day with demystifying the whole concept of metering.  For some reason, the photography industry can make shooting in Manual so scary.  But it isn’t at all.  After Brian and I walked everyone through the breakdown of metering in Manual, showing them lots of photo examples and giving a basketful of analogies, we let them loose on each other!  It was a blast!

I love this photo!  Lindsay was the model, and I love how the women are doing all sorts of things—checking out their results (that’s my mama next to the lady in pink), shooting, and I especially love Jen laughing.  Learning new things should be FUN!  🙂

Linda and Idie sharing results with each other.

One of my favorite photos of my mom during the weekend!  She and Sue were going for it, and having a ball at the same time.  (my mom is the one who is laughing–isn’t she beautiful :))

And then it was time to take what we learned to the Live Photo Shoot!  We had two or three families and three teenage girls show up for the Live Shoot (The Family Photo Tips come later this week—Part 3!).

I LOVE photographing Seniors!  They have such a great energy.  They are open to anything.  If you tell them to go stand in the ocean, they will totally try it.   Anything for a great Senior Photo.  How can you NOT love working with a subject that is that open?!

I showed our CONFIDENCE ladies a few different set ups that I use when shooting with Seniors.

First, I like to have them sit. Sitting for a photo is often way easier than standing.  It’s a great way to help the Senior loosen up and get used to the camera and me Photo Coaching them along.

This is what I was seeing.

I also love to have girls stand with their rear against the wall, but let their upper body lean forward.  This is a super slenderizing pose for them.  I try to stay away from touching my subjects b/c it can make them feel even more stiff with the camera.  Instead, I photo coach what I envision by modeling it.

You can see how she has her hands set gently behind her, and she is leaning forward with her rear against the wall.  It may feel a bit awkward, but it creates such a flattering, beautiful look.

I Photo Coached her to look over my left shoulder, and then I asked her to slowly turn and look right at me.

Love it!  Doesn’t she look fantastic!  She is such a sweetie!  Even though she’s not a little girl anymore, I’m thinking about my Refuse to Say Cheese motto.  I want to capture as many different and diverse expressions as I can.  I don’t want her to be looking at the camera and smiling for every photo because she is so much more than that one smile.  It’s such a honor to peel away the layers and discover who she is as an individual.

Shooting away!

I also like to discover what people look like when they laugh. This is a fun process.  I have them do funny things so I can start to see the gestures that naturally come out of them when they are laughing. Sometimes it’s easier to have them sit for this series of photos.  The important thing is to play with the subject, try different ideas.  You may feel nervous about your technical abilities, but if you keep giving your Senior ideas, they will LOVE you for it.

This is one of my FAVORITES from the “laughing segment”.  I love how natural and relaxed she looks.  And I LOVE the color all around her!

The CONFIDENCE ladies split up into small groups and went for it.  This is one of the set ups they made.  I had to get my own shot!  (Nice work ladies!)

Cheryl is the beautiful mom in the middle.  She attended our Orange Country CONFIDENCE Workshop a couple weeks ago.  It was SO FUN to see her and meet her two daughters.  I had to photograph them all together.  Aren’t they beautiful!  (Thanks so MUCH to all three of you!)

I’m working on Part 3 to show you some Photo Tips from the Live Family Shoot we did. I hope these quick photo tips for Seniors are helpful.  The biggest encouragement I want to give is this, Let yourself S-T-R-E-T-C-H into photography.

There is so much to learn that we can get overwhelmed.  We start to think we need to know everything to make great photos happen.  But it’s not true.  The biggest thing we need is a connection with our subjects.  And this connection can only happen if we are willing to look silly, be silly and keep trying different ideas as we become better and better with the technical stuff.

When you remember that your biggest job is to help your subject relax, you remember that they may be even more nervous than you.  And that’s something to take comfort in because now you’ve allowed yourself to bond with them.

They feel vulnerable in front of a camera.  You feel vulnerable asking them to stand a certain way.  You both feel vulnerable together.  This makes the reward of a great photo that much better—for you both.  Try to see photography as a partnership between you and your subjects, instead of you being the “Photographer” with a capital P.  This subtle mental shift will allow you both to breathe and have so much more fun.

xoxo,

Me Ra