Relax and Have a Laugh

I am a professional photographer and I hate having my picture taken. I know, who knew. I prefer to be behind the camera not in front of it. And I find that most of my adult clients are the same way (kids on the other hand have no problem posing for the camera). Therefore I wanted to give some tips on how to take better pictures (as the subject).

1. Smile
Smiling relaxes you and even if you are nervous, you'll start to loosen up a bit.



2. Laugh
Laughing is the best medicine, even if you're not sick. It does help if your photographer is a little silly (like me) to help you laugh. But to help even more, think about something funny that has happened to you, a movie, cartoon, even what you're boss would look like in clown costume.


3. Tickle
No not the photographer! If you are posing for a picture with another person and you have found your internal zen master and have relaxed, but they haven't, give them a tickle. It will be fun for you and loosen everyone up a little bit.



4. Jump
Lastly, if everything else fails jump...as in jump in and just so it (as Nike says). One day you'll look back and be glad that you have this picture and wish that you had more. So stop worrying about how you look, how you want look, and how you wish you looked and just jump. You'll be really glad you did!