I'll be honest: most people who come to me are terrified. Not a little nervous — actually terrified. They warn me in advance. "I'm not photogenic." "I always look weird in photos." "My face does this thing." I nod. I've heard it all.
Here's what I've figured out after years of pointing a camera at people: nobody hates being photographed. They hate feeling exposed. There's a difference.
When you're in front of a lens, suddenly you're hyper-aware of your hands. Where do hands even go? You've had them your whole life and now they feel like two alien objects attached to your body. You freeze. You smile with your teeth in a way you've never smiled before. The camera clicks. You cringe.
That's not you being unphotogenic. That's you being human.
The people who look amazing in photos aren't more attractive or more confident. They're just... distracted. They're laughing at something real. They forgot about the camera for a second. That's the whole secret — and it's also my entire job.
What I actually do during a shoot is talk. A lot. About nothing important — your weekend, a film you watched, something that annoyed you this morning. I ask weird questions. I make bad jokes. And at some point you stop thinking about your hands, and that's when I press the button.
So if you're reading this and thinking "this sounds nice but I'd still be a disaster" — that's fine. Come anyway. The disaster phase usually lasts about ten minutes. What comes after is always worth it.
