Stop smiling
Before you set foot in front of a camera for portraits...
...understand your audience first.
If there’s one thing I learned in my years behind a camera, it’s that education never stops.
If you’re open to it, there’s always something new to learn. And such was the case the other day when I worked with innovation expert, inventor, and keynote speaker, Maher.
I met Maher virtually during the pandemic.
At the time, he was in transition, moving from Lebanon to Qatar. While he marveled at the virtual photography I created for other experts like him, he talked to me about, one day, creating in-person portraits with me in NYC.
Fortunately, that day came, and we were ready to get to work while using his hotel in Times Square as the backdrop.
Prior to the call, Maher and I conducted a pre-session strategy call where we decided that the primary focus of his session was to produce headshots and portraits that can be used on his website and social channels.
Cool.
While in his hotel room, we locked in the outfits he was going to wear and we were off to the races.
Throughout the entire session, I noticed something interesting about the way he directed his attention to the camera. He spent a considerable amount of effort to not smile, or even appear warm and approachable, throughout long stretches of the session.
While we were in the thick of the session, I thought nothing of it as we created a range of photos of him smiling, laughing, thinking and generally, being the kind and affable person he is.
I figured those mean mugging expression shots would simply be deleted as they were too harsh.
Fast-forward to when Mahar and I reviewed the photos on my laptop.
As we landed on a couple of these no-smile photos, I commented on how angry he looks in the photos and we should delete these options, he stopped me and said to keep them.
Hw went on to explain that he does a lot of business in the Middle East and in those cultures, it’s frowned upon to use smiling photos in promotional materials. The photos, as a result, need to have more of a blank or serious sentiment connected to them.
Ah, well that makes total sense now - and it’s something I never heard of before, but will never forget!
This situation is yet another example of how important it is for you to truly understand how to communicate with your audience in order to capture their attention.
Having said that, Maher also does business with non-Middle Eastern clients, which means he also needed some photos with a little bit of sunshine injected into them, so we made sure to cater to that audience, as well:
At the end of the day, you’re image content portfolio must be filled with images that truly resonate with those you serve, and that includes image content that spans the emotional spectrum.
Make sure you’re on the same page with your photographer in order to achieve this very important goal.
If you’re curious to learn more about how I can help you achieve this important goal, set up a time to chat with me and we can talk more in depth about it.
Schedule a call with me to see if we’re a fit to work together.