LESSONS LEARNED: The power of confidence

Confidence. It’s something that people search and yearn for. They look for it in new clothes, better makeup, the gym. True confidence is something I know is only found in an identity founded in Christ.

To be raw and real with all of you, my confidence is really lacking. For my whole life I have struggled with feeling attractive and wanted. I believe that really, almost EVERYONE deals with this. Though true confidence is found in Christ, I have found that I can inspire and spark confidence in my clients.

I know that going into a session without ANY idea of what is coming for someone can be hard. Especially if they are like me and HATE getting their picture taken. Seriously, I am made to be behind the camera, not in front of it. There are a few steps that I take before, during, and after my sessions to ensure that my clients are ready to HAVE FUN and to spark confidence within them during the session.

First thing I do is work before the session. I make sure my clients are completely ready for their session by talking over what we are going to do, what I am looking for, what they should wear, and answer any questions they may have about their day.

After that, I make sure I have my bases covered for poses and ideas the day before the session or two days before. I like to be prepared. Really.

This is something that I just started doing, and I LOVE IT. I email the family, girl, or guy the night before their session and give them another quick run down and inspire some confidence in that person. If its a girl, I tell her how excited I am to spend time with her and how honored I am to get to photograph such a gorgeous girl. You may think that this is very superficial, since I tell all my ladies this, but that’s far from the truth. My clients are all gorgeous and beautiful, plain and simple as that, because every person in this world is gorgeous in some way! DUH! After that, I stress to them that we are going to have fun, and the only thing they need to do is sit back and be themselves. The rest is my job.

After all that emailing, texting, and talking is over, and the session is upon us, I make sure to pour on my clients love and some more confidence. I love to talk. (obviously since this blog post is a year and half long….) I make sure I am always talking during my session. Telling them just how gorgeous they are and how I love the light. If I see an uncomfortable look, I make sure to change what we are doing or to shift my words to be even more encouraging and uplifting. I want my clients to walk away from a session happy and feeling like a million bucks!

An example of  God’s hard work and maybe a little bit to do with my endless stream of how TOTES GORGE Emma is, came this image above. Emma is gorgeous, so it’s easy to tell her that. Our session together last Saturday was the first time she had even gotten her picture done professionally, and she was such a pro! I’d like to think that it might have had a little to do with me… maybe?

After the session, I make sure to email or text my client to thank them for spending time with me and how gorgeous they look in all of the images! These things are ALWAYS true because my clients rock. Fo’ sho’.

The whole reason I wanted to write this post was because of my epiphany while on The Perfect Date  (you will hear all about it on Friday!) with James. I know he does not always love getting his picture taken, but I could tell during our date that he was having FUN and ENJOYING it. I asked him about it later that night, and he just said that he was having fun with me and enjoying it because what I was saying to him. I told him he looked SO DARN HANDSOME, and he believed it. The same thing happened to me when he was taking my portraits. He was saying that I looked gorgeous and that I was pretty. Duh that made me feel good!

To wrap up this extremely long post, I’ll just say that the power of confidence is a little bit in the hands of the person with the camera. I was completely amazed by the change in my images from session when I saw my clients feeling confident.