A photo shoot can be a very fun, silly, hang out time for everyone involved.  More times than not, though, they always start out with the person in front of the camera feeling a little nervous and anxious.  Suddenly all of those poses that looked amazing in the mirror the night before have fleeted from your memory.  Do you look silly?  Do you look fat in that shirt?  (No!!)  Does that pose look awkward?

There’s always a time when the ice is broken, though.  When I give you a little direction, you loosen up and suddenly, it’s like we’re like old friends hanging out and having a blast.  You can make a silly pose on a whim and trust me that it will look amazing.  You make funny faces to loosen your facial muscles or to crack a natural smile.  I’ll crack a joke (usually not as funny as I think it is) and you’ll recall a time something like that ACTUALLY HAPPENED TO YOU!

In the end, amazing photos are always taken and even the silly ones show your personality and can make you relax.  It’s important to remember that you will never look like that supermodel on the billboard, mainly because SHE IS NOT REAL!  You will, though, look like YOU.  You will look beautiful, your personality will shine and I can promise you will love the outcome.

Here are just a few examples of the people I have photographed being silly, loosening up and in the end, looking fabulous.

Marie saw this basketball goal and asked if we could take a few quick snaps in front of it, since a special someone in her life is a basketball player.  “Of course!”, I said – and she did her best impressions in an evening gown!

I love this picture of her “taking a picture”.  This was the pose she saw me in most of the evening.

Wasn’t this moment in between SO worth it, though?

Vogue!

And again, so worth the silly faces.

Janelle is always a blast to work with, and so carefree!

…and it doesn’t help that she flirts with the photographer, either!  I have the BEST JOB!  haha!

But the resulting images surrounding these silly moments are what really matters…

We will not mention what happened in this photo, except to say she called it about 10 seconds before it really happened!  Oops!

Worth it? I’d say absolutely!

You never know when we’ll run into some fuzzy animals on our shoots, either.  I guess it was bound to happen, though, since we are in their home!  Here is Chrissy trying to get them to pose with her.  They were a little camera shy, though.

We didn’t pressure them to shoot…so we did our own thing.

In studio, Monkey is always a diva and has to make an appearance.  Kari didn’t miss a beat, though.

Sarah trying on props and being silly.

But we found the perfect fit in the end, and I’m pretty sure this smile is genuine, as I saw it most of the evening we were together.

If you have any tips for those who will find themselves in front of the camera, feel free to leave a comment here.  Tell them how YOU relaxed, what made you feel at ease and how you made it all OK in the end.