Milwaukee Photographer Who Helps You Feel Comfortable in Front of the Camera
What do most people say in the first five minutes of a session?
"I'm so awkward in photos."
I hear it from grown adults. I hear it from high school seniors. I hear it from dads who would genuinely rather be doing literally anything else. And every single time, I say the same thing: I've got you.
Here's the truth I've learned in fourteen years of doing this. Almost nobody walks in feeling comfortable in front of the camera. The people in your feed who look effortless? They felt weird too. They just had someone guiding them the whole way.
I don't pick up my camera and say "act natural." (Has that ever worked for anyone? Ever?) I walk you through it. Where to put your hands. How to stand so you feel like yourself and not a mannequin. When to look at me, when to look away, when to laugh at the genuinely dumb thing I just said to get a real smile out of you. It's guided, start to finish. You're never left standing there wondering what to do with your hands.
I had a senior girl who was apprehensive about getting ANY photos taken at all. Not a little nervous...full-on did-not-want-to-be-there. We made a deal: we'd get great photos and she'd only have to see the ones she loved. By the end she had relaxed, was less worried, was having fun. Her mom told me afterward she couldn't believe it was the same kid.
That's the part people don't expect. Not that they'll survive it. That they'll actually enjoy it.
I think a lot of us carry around an old story about ourselves.
"I'm not photogenic."
"I always look bad in pictures."
Usually that story comes from one terrible photo someone snapped at a bad angle in bad light at a party in 2014. That's not you being unphotogenic. That's a bad photo. There's a difference, and it's a big one.
A relaxed photo session in the Milwaukee area with someone who actually directs you looks nothing like that. Natural expressions. Real laughter. Photos that look like the person your people already know and love.
So if you've been putting off senior portraits or family photos because the idea of being in front of a camera makes you want to crawl out of your skin...I see you. I built my whole approach around you, actually.
Let's make it easy. Come be awkward with me for an hour and watch what happens.
