Posing for Portrait Photography

and told me this old photo was
exactly what she wanted.
Although I appeared calm
and pleasant, inside I was furi-
ous. This is something that any-
one could take. She could have
had one of the kids snap off a
picture with an instamatic and
saved me the trouble. I almost
felt guilty for taking what at that
time was a fairly high sitting fee
for such a crummy picture. They
went into the pose, as though
they rehearsed it. They did three
groupings, all self-posed. Within
an hour and fifteen minutes, I
was done (that was ten minutes
to set up, ten minutes to photo-
graph, and fifty-five minutes of
waiting).
On my drive back to the stu-
dio, I thought of how I was go-
ing to get stiffed. I would have
my sitting fee, she would pick up
the proofs, and I would never
hear from her again. After the
proofs came in, I called to let her
know and, to my surprise, she said that the mother from each fami-
ly would come to the studio and select what she wanted. Each
mother, from each of the five families, ordered a 16x20-inch print
for their homes. Each family also ordered a variety of smaller prints
for their homes, offices, and to give to other family members. When
all was said and done, what I thought was going to be the worst
family sale ever turned into a total order that exceeded $3000.
The point to that very long story? Art is in the eye of the buyer,
not the photographer. Anytime you think you know more about
what your client should have than they do, they will prove you
wrong. The second important lesson I learned is that you can’t dis-
tinguish a large sale from a small one as you are doing the session.
Yes, there are indicators as to what the person wants, but you never
know what they will order until they order. This is why you always
do your best with every session you photograph. Don’t try to take
shortcuts when you think that a client won’t be spending as much
on their order as you’d like them to.

112 POSING FOR PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY

Anytime you think you know more about what

your client should have then they do, they will

prove you wrong.

You can’t distinguish

a large sale from a small one

as you are doing the session.