Say Cheese

Sarah and I started talking about writing out a sort of guideline or helpful hint document to give to our clients or potential clients - talking about how to dress and how to focus their appointment to get the most out of us as they can.

Of course, being the somewhat reluctant professional that I am, talk turned to making some points in this document about the traditional "everyone look at the camera and say cheese" kind of family portraiture vs. the kind we like to do. That takes some qualification. Nothing makes me happier than getting a family in a nice piled up sort of pose all looking at me with their beautiful eyes sparkling and happiness flowing from them. But sometimes such things are not possible. OR, if they are, the blood-boiling it takes to get something even remotely close to it sucks the life out of your photoshoot and your time with me.

Please do not think I am talking about YOU in this post. Trust me we all (including myself) have done this sort of thing at one time in one degree or another. I am just trying to get a rough idea of what I want to say which is not offensive and is only off-putting to those who think the artsy style is cute but what they are really really after is "everyone look at the camera and say cheese."

My first thought was that I want people to really understand the product, I don't want to have to defend my style the entire time. When the photojournalistic style of wedding photography became popular were they still doing all the traditional shots just because it was expected? Probably.

Steve says that I absolutely have to defend my vision, it will actually strengthen that vision and prove there is a substance to what I see.

But the people that ask me to take their picture can't just be asking because we're cheap, right? Speaking of, if this becomes a real problem (customer expecting more traditional images) my brother suggested that we offer a choice. We can either charge them the actual going rate for professional photographers (about 250 for a session) if we strive to get "everyone say cheese" or we charge our current bargain basement price wherein that is our "portfolio" price so to speak - i.e. it's our art, yes we care to make the client happy, but we're artist first, commercial next. See, that just SOUNDS rude.

It's just that at some point we may need to do this for commercial mainly. We might need to put food on the table and all that sort of thing. At that point clients become blessings beyond anything. But as we're not there, and I never planned on being a working parent, I really need to get something that strengthens and feeds my heart out of this. And that means, having wiggle room to create something beyond the tradition. Not that I'm all that artsy - seriously people if you knew what really constituted artsy you'd think I was a librarian.

So that is where I'm at. For all my big talk I fully understand that my main real true problem is that I do desperately want the client to ADORE their pictures. Obviously if I really didn't care, none of this would affect me. But instead, to fall under their expectations just crushes me which is bad for an artist, but guess what, pretty much on par for an artist ;) ( trust me, I've been watching alot of Ovation TV).

So that's what I'm thinking about. I just have to fit that in somewhere between:
"Moms, pamper yourselves first, the kids always look adorable whether or not they are wearing matching shoes, your husband will just look all the more manly with a little stubble on his jaw, and you're the one who never gets to be in the picture, so make sure you feel gorgeous"

and

"When choosing what to wear, go to the extreme. If you want a casual feel, then wear completely simple clothes - white, black, jeans. If you want something that looks a bit more grand, wear the most formal thing you have. If you want to go colorful - go VERY colorful - like Orange! or Red!"