Fearful of being in front of the camera? Try this…

Fearful of being in front of the camera during your lifestyle portrait session?

This little trick might actually do the trick…

Every now and again, I still get a few butterflies the night before a big branded lifestyle portrait session.  

Particularly if it’s with someone with whom I haven’t met in person or worked with at all.

It’s cool - these uneasy moments remind me that I’m a human being and that I care very much about what I’m doing :)

But, rather than crawl into the fetal position and allow the negative self-talk to paralyze my preparation, I use these butterflies as a way to narrow and focus my attention because the fear stems from not feeling totally prepared.

So, I take a couple minutes of uninterrupted time to visualize the entire day tomorrow - from the moment I wake up to the moment I’m, dumping my gear off in my apartment to head straight back out to the bar to unwind.

While visualizing, I include all the details:

• Packing my bags full of gear

• Jumping into the cab

• Setting up my camera and lighting equipment on location

• Surveying the playspace while looking over the specific shots we need to capture

• Greeting the client

• Giving them the initial pep talk

• Directing them through each scenario 

• Saying goodbye to the client and packing up my stuff. 

This approach is known as process visualization:

Acknowledging all the small steps that make up the whole experience, rather than visualizing the whole experience in one sitting. 

And, it’s an amazing tool to leverage when feeling stressed about an upcoming branded lifestyle portrait session - well, any stress-inducing event or activity, for that matter, but, we’ll stick to the portrait conversation here.   

Process visualization helps reduce stress because it plays on a very interesting nuance to the way our brains work.  

 You see, our brains don’t know the difference between what it’s experiencing and what it’s imagining, so, if you think it, it is so, as far as your brain is concerned. 

Crazy, isn’t it? 

I know - I thought the same thing when I first learned about it!

With that in mind, you can use this newfound knowledge to your advantage.

If you’re feeling a bit ehhhh the night before the session, visualize yourself going through the entire process of completing an amazing portrait session: 

• Choosing your outfits/packing your bags

• Arriving at the location

• Getting your hair and makeup done

• Sharing a few laughs with the photographer before the session

• Being engaged and loose in front of the camera

• Observing the photographer reset from setup-to-setup

• Looking at the photos on the back of the photographer’s camera in between shots - and loving them!

• Transitioning from location-to-location

• Changing your wardrobe

• Celebrating the completion of a valuable and empowering portrait session!

Rather than spend the night before the session devolving into a ball of nerves, use your brainpower to your advantage. 

Allow yourself to visualize a smooth, valuable and enjoyable experience that awaits you the next day. That will go a long way to ensuring that that is exactly what happens.

Can’t hurt to try, right?