More or less, women are vain
At the recent photo expo my friend purchased a new D40 with 2 kit lenses. I lusted after the 70-300 VR myself but couldn’t bring myself to spend the money just yet. I tried the lens out on the D80 and was just blown away with what I could get in the normally lit expo room. After my friend made her purchase, we went to a photography session as I was bummed and couldn’t bear to hang around the Nikon table anymore.
The session had already started and the room was packed so we had to stand off to the side. The speaker talked about poses for portraits. Essentially his whole spiel was about ensuring that the woman in the picture looks good no matter what. Weddings, family portraits, couple pictures, whatever it is, if a woman is involved, make her look good. This could be accomplished by first positioning her correctly so that arms and legs are cutting across the figure and secondly by placing the guy so that he looks bigger. Have the guy stand in front or position his arms so that he looks bigger. Make the woman look good and you will sell more pictures. Very true I think.
The speaker ended with his signature 10 poses as a takeaway. He asked for 10 women volunteers so that he could demonstrate. As it was a mostly male audience, only about 4 or 5 women went up. After a bit it was obvious that he wasn’t going to get his 10. I glanced behind me at my friend to see if we should go and she nodded. When I got to the stage I realized that she had stayed behind! (She later claimed it was because she was holding the bag with her camera and didn’t want to lose sight of it) So much for communicating via eyeball.
The photographer posed with each woman according to her body shape, and as I was the last person and he still had a few more to go, I got to demo all 10 poses. They were all very similar, with subtle differences in the lean of the body, and where the arm is placed. But I don’t think I could recreate them all.
As I was walking off the stage, the speaker for the next session approached and asked if I was going to attend his session and when I replied that I wasn’t sure, he asked if I would be coming to the second day of the expo. I replied in the negative, at which he then went on to say that they had a studio set up behind the stage and he would love to be able to take my picture. And that… I was gorgeous. For a split second I was halfway torn between whether or not to believe him, after all as a girl you just can’t believe what strangers say and especially when said girl isn’t exactly dressed up or had any makeup on. But then I settled on the fact that he was much older and a professional so it is most likely a real compliment. !!! Wow, an unexpected compliment from a guy that wasn’t hitting on me… and from a photographer no less! It’s a much needed ego boost especially after my recent birthday
Anyhow, I thanked him and went on my way. But that totally made up for not having a lens to take home.
