I've spoken to a lot of people in my time as a photographer and I've come to the conclusion that most people hate the idea of having their photo taken. Fair enough, I can completely understand that. But those who have made the brave jump, for whatever reason, have been pleasantly surprised by the experience.
Take head shots for example. Most people know they need them for their professional online presence, such as their LinkedIn profile. They need a head shot image of themselves to replace that blurry one taken by their other half on a mobile phone. Enter the place that is so far from their comfort zone it fills them with fear.
I could quite easily turn up with my camera and take lots of photos, but you would likely still be filled with fear and be very nervous, it's natural to feel that way. So I look at the whole experience and look at the environment you're in.
Take Lisa from Palompo PR for example. She invited me to her home office as it's a place where she feels comfortable. That's a good start. When I arrived, we never even mentioned the photography, we went straight for coffee! Also a good start. We chatted about pretty much everything but the photography, for at least half an hour! We caught up on loads of stuff and talked about lots of mutually interesting things. So much so that we almost forgot why I was there.
Now let's just get one thing out of the way here, Lisa's home office is the most inspiring space I've probably set foot in. It's bright, professional, comfortable and I would absolutely love to work in that space every single day! I had massive office envy!
Anyway, on to the photography. Lisa needed to be seen in her working environment and she needed to appear approachable and professional. So we used a few areas of her office space both sitting and standing and a change of outfits. But I wanted something else. Lisa lives in the most amazing house with a huge Victorian front door and entrance hall. I'd spotted some fantastic natural light filling the space when I arrived and so that's where we headed. I simply opened the front door and had Lisa stand in that space, the resulting images were probably the best from the entire shoot, funny that.
So if you're still pondering on whether or not to go ahead with some photography, I (and probably Lisa too) can assure you that the whole experience needn't be a scary one. Try it and see! You can drop me a line here.
