the lack of professionalism he displayed in the way he talked to his
client. The young lady sat down and her pant legs inched up reveal-
ing white socks that seemed to glow against her nearly black jeans.
She looked down and asked, “Are my white socks going to show?”
“Mr. Happy,” as I’ll call him, replied, “Of course they are going to
show—if you didn’t want them
to show, you shouldn’t have
worn them!”
Many photographers reading
this will of course think, “I
would never act like that!” Well,
guess what—behavior like this
from photographers is much
more common than you think.
If you don’t think so, talk with
people who don’t know your
occupation and ask them their
opinion of professional photog-
raphers. You will hear many sto-
ries, and you’ll probably notice
that the word “jerk” comes up a
lot.
Mr. Happy could have com-
posed the portrait closer to
avoid showing the white socks.
He could have told the girl to
kick off her socks and shoes and
go barefoot. He also could have
said something that didn’t make
her feel like an idiot. Something
like, “Don’t worry, that’s one
thing that almost all our clients
forget, we will just.. .”
You are paid to make sure
your clients look their best, no
matter how many bad choices in
clothing, hair, and makeup they
make. They may be overweight,
they may be downright un-
attractive, but it is your job to make them look good, no matter
what their individual situation.
Well, Mr. Happy went out of business a few years after I saw
him. He is now selling shoes and is probably just as unsuccessful at
that. I have seen many people like Mr. Happy come and go through
THE BUSTLINE AND THE WAISTLINE 73You get paid to make sure your clients look
their best. Some tactful suggestions can easi-
ly solve little problems. For example, if the
client brings the wrong shoes, you could sug-
gest a barefoot portrait.