Invite the "trolls" into your photo session
What objects have emotional significance for you?
Make sure they’re photographed during your portrait session.
What objects, chachkis and other keepsakes have emotional significance to you?
I ask this question during every portrait session strategy call, and am constantly surprised at the answers I hear.
Yo-yo’s. Jewelry. Etch-A-Sketch. Raggity Ann doll. Snow globes. Crystal balls. Piggy banks.
This interesting and eclectic list goes on and on.
During a recent shoot, we had a new addition to the list - mini-Troll dolls.
Remember them from the 80’s and 90’s? They were a big thing when I was wrapping up elementary school. The cool, crazy hair always captured my attention :)
Well, for my client and her community, the mini-Troll dolls represent a lot more than just having a weirdly cute figurine standing post over your shoulder.
For them, the Trolls are a metaphor for apprehension, doubt and roadblocks.
Rather than simply live with the frustration of encountering a dead end in their work in their heads, the troll provides them with an opportunity to stare their setbacks and points of friction right in their eyes.
After doing so, the idea is to approach this hurdle with a fresh set of eyes, and when they ease their point of friction, they can put the troll back in a drawer and proceed with their project.
While some may find this approach to be silly, the community in which my client serves has found this exercise to be extremely helpful in getting them past their various hiccups.
After she revealed the emotional significance of these tiny figures, I made sure we put them on the shoot schedule during her lifestyle portrait session, as these photos will deeply resonate with her current audience, as well as capture the attention of those who happen to discover her online.
With a variety of images, my client now has the opportunity to address these “Troll-like” roadblocks that she helps to ease with her expertise with a clever and relevant, visual metaphor.
When it comes to telling a compelling visual story, there’s no limitations as to the types of image content that will resonate with your audience.
The key is that you are open to sharing aspects of your process - ALL aspects of your process - with those you serve.
To some people, the use of this prop may seem silly...and that’s okay, it’s not a ft or you.
The question is what isn’t silly to you?
What objects and keepsakes aptly represent a part of you upbringing, how you see the world and share your knowledge?
These are the nuggets that you need to share with those you serve so they get a broader sense of who you are, how you solve problems and why you do what you do.
When you do the work answering these questions, it leads to unique photos that help you stand out from other experts in your space.
It’s a pretty magical process :)
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