How To Guide Your Clients During a Photoshoot
Guiding Your Clients
Do you ever feel stuck at a session or like you are just overthinking it? Ever felt like the harder you try, the worse it gets? I’ve totally 1000% been there. So, how do you get through it?
My advice: Just keep it simple, friend. Go back to the basics.
It can be really overwhelming sometimes to think about posing/prompting couples from such a logistical standpoint. AKA, do this to get this shot. I just really believe in observing & listening to what is happening. Every couple is going to be different. I also feel like I struggle more with what to do for sessions when I try to think ahead of what I’m going to do for posing/prompts.
Keeping it simple to me just looks like hanging out with my clients & talking to them. Think about going to meet a new friend over coffee. It’s not a business interview. You just genuinely want to get to know a little about them. So you ask questions. You can determine the depth of your conversation by how they respond to respond to your questions. Their responses provide you with inklings about their personality, the things they love, & the things they are passionate about. This is the place where trust is kindled. When it comes to photography, trust yields the freedom to take images that truly reflect who people are.
So, what does this look like during a session?
When I am shooting, I will often give my couples a question/questions to answer & then just shoot around them for a few minutes.
Here are some questions that I may ask.
How did you guys meet?
Do you remember your first date? Where did you go? What did you do? Did you guys kiss on the first date?
Do you remember the first time he/she said they loved you? Who said it first?
When did you know he/she was the one?
What are your favorite things to do together?
If you could hop on a plane and go anywhere right now, where would you go & why?
What are some mutual goals that you have for the next year?
What is your best memory together?
What do you love the most about him/her?
What are you the most proud of him/her about (give at least # of reasons)?
Where do you see yourselves being in 10 years? 50 years?
What is the thing you are most excited about on your wedding day?
You are getting to know your couples, so your questions can certainly have some order. I won’t ask about mutual goals until I know how they met. I start with questions that just generally allow me to get to know them, then I will ask some silly ones, and then on to the more serious ones. You can come up with your own list. I don’t have this memorized. I just ask as I feel led to & not necessarily in the order above.
Your couples certainly still need some guidance on posing & angles, but if you can give them something to talk about or something to do in assistance to that, it’s going to make all of the difference in their experience & yours. It doesn’t have to be complicated. When you talk to your couples & set the atmosphere, it’s so much easier to know what your next move is going to be because you are basing it on a foundation that’s already been built. That’s where my best images come from.
XO, Dakota