Original subtitles

Hey everyone,

hope this finds you well.

Hope you guys are doing well, safe, healthy.

2021 is looking good.

I hope my last video about the faceless

portrait kind of gave you guys some ideas

on how to try something new to capture

connection in a different way than maybe what

you've been doing in the past.

I'd love to see your guys' images from

that.

I'd love to see anything that you guys

have created since then or maybe you've done

it before in the past.

Maybe it's something that you've done before and

I'd love to see those images too.

I'd love to do an editing video of

some of your guys' work as opposed to

just editing mine.

I'd like to edit your images.

So again, send them in, send them to

me and yeah, hopefully I can make a

video on here showcasing editing of your work

as opposed to mine.

So today, this video is the behind the

scenes.

This is something that I set up last

fall with a real couple, brought a videographer

and just wanted to kind of show you

guys how a session rolls out for me.

Like, you know, start to finish how everything

looks.

I guess the main thing when I start

all my work or all my sessions, be

it a wedding day elopement or a connection

session, is I always start the session off

with kind of giving them a rundown of

how or what I'm looking for.

Okay, so let's go.

Yeah, let's go in there.

So come actually towards me.

Okay, so just a little like preemptive talk.

So Parker, when you hold her, I need

you to like hold her.

I think one of the things we sometimes

forget as photographers is, you know, we've done

a bunch of these, but a lot of

times this is maybe the couple's first time

shooting.

So giving them kind of cues and, you

know, guidance definitely makes the session, I find,

A, run more smooth.

B, allows them to connect quicker and easier.

So every shoot after we, you know, meet

at the car and we walk and we

get to a point is I kind of

go through just basic steps.

Stuff that's like bite-sized information that they

can digest easily, but it stays with them

throughout the entire shoot.

Like holding her or holding him.

You know, I explain to them, you know,

when you hold each other, I need you

to hold each other.

I don't want, you know, I call them,

hey buddy hands, you know, the really fish

hands.

Okay.

So not like, hey, how are you?

You know what I mean?

Like I need you to like hold her

because visually in a photo, if you're just

kind of like, I call them, hey buddy

hands, this is like nothing.

So when you hold her, you need to

squeeze them.

Same with you when you grab them or

touch them or anything like that.

Okay.

Because as we know, like visually in a

photo, because it's a single frame at like

500th of a second, we need to see

tension.

We need to see passion and that comes

through a squeeze.

Like by the way you can see him

squeezing her in or the way she holds

his jacket and squeezes him in.

So I explain to my couples, I need

you to hold her.

I need you to hold him.

You know, I talk about the hands and,

you know, not hey buddy hands, but the

squeeze.

When you're in a position, I need you

guys to either look at each other, but

your nose, lips, chin, chest are down.

Because if you're holding her and she's like

this, like she's gone visually, she's disappeared.

Right.

And that goes for you too.

Right.

So when you're with each other, just concentrate

on each other.

Okay.

One of the other things I always tell

my couples at every session is I don't

want talking during the pose.

And why I do that is I think

we've all seen that is, you know, the

couples tend to just talk.

They just, you know, it's just a like

a reflex when you're awkward or you're feeling

weird and you're in that position.

No talking.

So if you want to communicate, just do

it through touch.

Okay.

Because if you're like mid conversation while you

guys are holding and the light's beautiful and

everything's great and your mouth is half open,

it looks like you're gagging on something.

I can't fix that.

There's no Photoshop filter for that.

Okay.

I get the reason why they're doing it.

But what happens is, is if, you know,

let's say the light's gorgeous and there's this

beautiful light, you know, the wind's blowing and

everything.

And they're in mid conversation and their mouth's

half open.

And, you know, like I say in the

video, it's like, it looks, you know, visually,

it looks like you're gagging on something.

I can't, we can't fix that after.

So if I tell my to not talk

during the portrait session or the time that

they're holding each other and to communicate just

by touch and just always be moving.

Okay.

So always the way you touch her.

Okay.

Really important just to keep moving because if

you guys stay stationary for like too long,

it becomes very robotic and very like mannequin.

So if you're always moving, there's those little

things in between the movements that that's what

we're looking for.

Okay.

Visually when they're touching each other and, you

know, I'll say, tell her how much you

love her just by the way you touch

the palm of her hand.

Or tell him how much you, how proud

of him you are just by the way

you touch, you know, his face or the

back of his head.

So what I always get my couples to

do is when you hold her, and I'll

tell them this, when you hold her, bring

your hands up and point them upwards.

Okay.

So when you put your hands on her,

always try to keep them waist up.

Okay.

Try to keep your fingers always pointing up.

As soon as fingers point down, visually that

almost looks kind of like meh.

You know what I mean?

It's just like, yeah, but if you point

them up and squeeze her in, it changed.

Yeah.

Hands above her waist.

What it does is it creates visually, it

creates way more passion, way more tension, way

more connection than just this because couples, the

guys, like I said, they'll immediately go in.

If you say, hold her, I would say

nine times out of 10, they just wrap

their hands and they're just kind of rest

them there.

And they're just like, blah, right?

Just here.

Get them to bring her hands above her

waist and point her fingers up or point

his fingers up and squeeze her in.

And it creates way more tension, way more

passion visually.

And that's what we want in our work,

right?

We want our couples or potential couples to

look at a photo, you know, if they're

going through three or four photographers and you

know, and everyone kind of, everyone really is

doing the same thing, but it's the little

nuances within that photo that's going to differentiate

you guys or your work from maybe the

other person that they're looking at, right?

If there's two images side by side and

yours is his hands are up and they're

squeezed and they're intense and there's passion there.

And he's in the other photographers also hold,

he has a picture of him holding her,

but her hands or his hands are like

this and like, just blah.

Consciously or subconsciously, a viewer is going to

see that and be like, that feels much

more connected.

That feels more like a moment as opposed

to a pose.

Okay.

So again, get those hands up, face them

up this way, waist up and on her

back and make sure the fingers are pointing

up.

Another thing I mention is to always be

moving, not like running around moving, but more

like always be moving hands on each other.

When you put your couple into a pose

at the beginning or, you know, at that

moment, when you set them up, if they

stay in that pose for too long, what

happens is it becomes very robotic.

It becomes almost like, uh, like a mannequin,

right?

They're just, they're holding.

And there's definitely a time period that passes

where it goes from like, okay, we're just

posing to, okay, this feels awkward because we

haven't moved.

Should we smile?

No, you can, you can smile.

So if there's like, if there's moments where

I'm like, you know, I want it to

be a little more moody, then I'll just

say, you know, don't smile anymore.

Okay.

But I don't want you guys to look

angry.

Do you know what I mean?

Like it's right.

You want to look happy.

This is so true.

So one of the things I always say

is don't bury your head into him or

vice versa, because what happens is it feels

good, but visually you just kind of become

big ball of hair.

You know what I mean?

So you just look at each other.

Sometimes it's hard to look at each other

when you're this close to you're like, you've

become like Cyclops.

You know what I mean?

So just, that's why I would say like,

look at lips, look at chin, you know,

look down, close your eyes.

Okay.

So I tell my couples to always move,

start with where I put you start with,

you know, hands here or hair here, or

turn your shoulder this way, but then move

within that because every couple is going to

move differently.

Every couple is going to move differently.

Your couple on Saturday is going to move

differently than your couple on Tuesday.

And when they're moving, it doesn't feel as

awkward and it feels much more natural.

And as we know, it sometimes, you know,

I think I talked about this in a

video before it's like the moments in between

the moments when he's here and he's holding

her and then he moves his hand up

here and then he squeezes her in and

his elbow drops and her chin kind of

lifts up.

You know, all these things are happening within

seconds, but it's when you shoot it and

it's that 500th of a second or a

thousandth of a second.

And it's like, that's the moment.

So A, it's why I get my couples

to move a lot.

B, it's why I shoot a ton while

you can hear my camera just firing because

there's so many little nuances in between each

movement that when I go to call that

session, I can see, you know, hand here,

here, here, here, here, up here, chin down,

chin, you know, hair moves ever so slightly.

And it's like, click, that's it.

Whereas if I just do move on, just

the way my mind works is I'll always

be thinking, what if I just shot four

frames before four frames after, right?

So I'm just constantly telling the move.

I'm constantly firing the camera.

Getting the no talking is super important for

me.

In my work, it definitely creates a sense

of calmness too in the work.

So just take a step towards me and

then face each other, hold hands and just

like, it's going to feel weird.

So just let it feel weird.

I think one of the biggest things I've

learned over the years is letting, giving my

couples permission to feel awkward, to feel like

this is weird because it is weird.

Really, if you think about it, we are

taking essentially strangers into a location, asking them

to act natural while we photograph them and

connect.

It is not a normal thing.

So what I tell my couples is just

embrace it.

Just be awkward.

Just don't try to fight it because if

you fight it, it's gonna take you longer

to get over it, right?

And we all want our couples to get

over it really quick so we can really

get down to what it is we're after

and it's connection and emotion and love and

all these things.

So I always tell my couples just don't

fight it and embrace it because we have

to also think that our couples are, you

know, there's a quote comparing your behind the

scenes to everyone else's highlight reel and it's

exactly what our couples are doing.

They are comparing their in the moment scene

to your highlight reel, right?

To your Instagram feed, to your Facebook pages,

to your, you know, blog or your website.

They are looking at these best of the

best selections that you've chosen and they're comparing

that live moment where they feel super weird

to that and they're, you know, you've probably

heard it before.

They're like, oh we're awkward.

I'm not sure we can be as cool

as your other couples.

We never get it.

We're always laughing, you know.

So again, just giving them permission, telling them

this is totally normal because it is, but

telling them they're normal, they're not the abnormality

really sets a sense of calmness in them

that, hey, this is normal.

Everyone goes through it and then you can

move forward into getting them to calm down

and really connecting with each other.

You know what I mean?

Like it's if you fight this feeling where

it's like, holy shit, this is the weirdest

thing.

I'm super awkward and nervous.

It's going to take you a long time

to get over it.

Okay.

So just be awkward, nervous.

Everyone's awkward.

Everyone feels the same.

Like this isn't, you know, you guys aren't

abnormal.

Okay.

So just, yeah, just come together a little

closer and just, yeah.

Touch each other there.

Yes.

And I forgot to say no kissing.

Reason being is I find kissing, kissing is

like what everyone does it when they don't

know what to do.

Right.

They come close and they just kiss.

Right.

Like you immediately, that's what you do.

So if you want to, yeah.

So if you want to, if that's like

that feeling and you want to like get

it out of you, just, you know, kiss

his chin, kiss his cheek, kiss his nose,

the way you kiss her temple, that type

of thing.

Just no kissing much.

Okay.

Be directive, take control and yeah, don't be

afraid to tell them what you want and

just give them guidance.

Just remember to guide your couple, your couples

into what you're looking for.

I hope that helps guys.

Yeah.

If there's anything again, comments, let me know

if there's any more questions on this.

If this is something you want to see

more of more behind the scenes of shoots

and yeah, like I said, with the faceless

portraits, I want to see some stuff.

So I'd love to edit.

I can do a video on some of

the edits from this session as well.

So we can see.

So again, guys, thank you so much for

being here.

Thanks for everything.

I wish you guys all the best.

And yeah, like I said, anything I can

help with at any time, just feel free

to message in the comment section or send

me an email.

Okay guys, take care.

I hope you have a wonderful day and

we'll talk soon.

Okay.

Bye.