I took a break this morning from packing for our upcoming trip to Texas and I've been thinking quite a bit lately about posing. Having respite from intensive weeks of shooting allows me to think of poses and creating situations for my clients to be comfortable and have fun. Most of the time I'm not thinking of poses, necessarily, but actions that will lead to a picture that was, yes, posed, but natural in its formation. My clients aren't models, so in our short time together on an engagement session, I have to–essentially–teach them how to move into poses without the Stand-in-front-of-this-brick-wall-and-kiss directive. Because, really, the posed kissing shot is just never fun.

If I see an advertisement or photo I like, I ask myself how the photographer might have directed the models into such a position. No, like, really I make the conversation in my head…so I can later use it if I'm put in a similar scenario. It's not enough to simply like a picture and then assume I'll be able to do the same thing. It's called practice because I'm practicing.

Often times, if I think of a pose I want to create, I try it with JD. At home. Yes, it's totally weird…but I'd rather be weird in the confines of my home than make my clients feel awkward at a shoot in the future. I previsualize because I want to move confidently at a photoshoot and explain with precision the vision in my mind and it comes easier if I've done it before. Now, that's not to say all my idea are awesome. In fact, it's quite the opposite. Just last month–when our friends visited and we ventured to the beach–I asked Amy to snap a photo of me and JD while I did a pose I've been working on for a while in my mind. I explained to her what I wanted, but she stood with a big question mark above her head. I shrugged my shoulders and just told her to shoot away.

Well, the pose didn't really work. At all. In fact, nobody understood what I wanted to do and it ended up being a communication disaster. Clearly, this was NOT the photo I had in my mind:

Oh well. It didn't work. I'm still trying to refine my directives to see if I can bring my idea to life at a engagement session in the near future, but until then, I'll keep thinking of ideas and having conversations in my head.

I might sound crazy, but I promise I'm totally normal. Seriously.