Top Tips for Feeling Awkward in Front of the Camera

Don't Feel Photogenic?

I hear it time and time again: ‘We’re not very photogenic people’. I am here to promise you one thing, being able to have your photograph taken is nothing to do with your genetic make up. I promise. I am also here to make sure that the photographs you get back of yourself and your family are ones that you absolutely love, and that includes being able to love yourself.

I saw a brilliant quote from a great instagram page (@writers) the other day. It went like this:

'I photograph a lot of people. Almost everyone believes they are ugly. Your grandmother. Your child. Your best friend. Most models. Most actors. Maybe even you. “Oh don’t take my photo, I’ll break your camera!” Laughs the 80 year old grandfather. When he dies a few months later, his grandkids will treasure this reminder of his “ugly mug”. “Please delete this,” says a dear old friend. She looks beautiful. She looks like herself. She’s been captured in a moment in which she is utterly comfortable in her skin. And she hates it. “Oh God,” I said, because I had to get a professional headshot for work. “I have a face like a slapped ham,” I told the make up artist I hired. The selfie I took of ‘the best it’s ever going to get” is my husband’s iPhone background.

You will never see yourself with the love that others have for you. That’s what makes a person beautiful, not angles or contours. You will never be objective about your appearance. But fortunately for you, your friends and family are never objective either, they’re biased to see you through the way they smile when you walk into a room. They want every photo of you they can get their hands on, because each photo is tied to your memory.

You’re the worst judge of your appearance. Trust me. You look fine. The camera loves you. Now take a picture.'

Ultimately, this quote is about love. Because that is really what photography is all about, capturing the things, and people that you love. This is what I try to get across in my galleries. We have been brought up in a very harsh society when it comes to our self image, it involves complexities that are difficult to overcome and I am very aware that it is even truer for women.

However, the best thing you can do for the photographs we will take together is to not think about your face, your need to smile and look at the camera, holding your breath or turning to your best side. The things you will need to focus on are the other people around you, the people you have made. Your tiny humans who think you’re the absolute most beautiful person in the world, ever. Think about the love you have for them and the love they have for you, and I promise the photographs will follow.

Of course, there will always be images in the world of ourselves that we don’t love, where it just doesn’t click with our idea of who we are. But that’s also why I take approximately 1937381919373829 photos per session, because in and amongst that mountain of shots, there will be some that take your breath away and make you well up.

To boil it down to my 5 best top tips:

1. Try to relax. I know, easier said than done. We’re not good sometimes at having the focus on us. But I will be friendly, awkward, silly, and down to earth and I hope that will put you at ease.

2. The photoshoots are CHILD FOCUSED. Breathe a sigh of release. A child will always be the focal point, both for the person viewing the image and for you in the image. My most used direction is ‘Look at your little one’. Hardly ever will I tell you to look at me, or the camera. It’s about focusing in on each other and creating a small beautiful bubble of time where you are all that exists.

3. Wear something that feels good. This does wonders for our confidence, and is really a simple task to make us feel our best selves visually. Please refer to my other blog post, What to Wear for Your Photoshoot, for advice on clothing or feel free to call me for an outfit chat - I love it!

4. Embrace feeling awkward. Sometimes, awkwardness is a positive thing! I know, sounds counterintuitive but often (especially with couples) I will say something like ‘look at each other and then whisper something silly in the others ear’. Awkward as anything. However, I’ll let you into a secret. It isn’t actually that moment I am looking to capture, so it doesn’t really matter how awkward you look in that particular moment. Sure, it gets its own shot, but really I am interested in the shot that comes straight after that moment. Where you finish saying whatever it is you’ve said, or you catch your partners eye and the awkwardness is shared, and you can’t help but break out into giggles because that’s what the majority of us do when we feel awkward anyway, right? Voila, a series of photographs are produced of genuine, shared laughter.

5. Be a kid. Children literally don’t care, so why should you? Take the hour as one of the only hours in the day where you can be on their level, enjoy life for the joy of life and take pleasure in the small things, like a really good leaf.