It's not just about the assets...
While your professional photos are powerful marketing assets...
...the success of your session doesn’t solely rest on that fact alone.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve encountered a client who dreaded the idea of spending a couple hours with me as I stuck a camera in their faces.
Nothing against me...their issues were with themselves:
Ugh, I hate the right side of my face...
I can’t stand my double chin...
My arms are too big...
I don’t have clothing that fits me right...
My hair…
My nails...
My wrinkles…
You get the point.
I’m thrown a WIDE VARIETY of people’s apprehensions about their appearances every single time I conduct a session.
But rather than skirt these concerns and simply reinforce that everything is fine, you look beautiful, we address these issues before, during and after the session as a way to work together to move past them.
While this approach is extremely helpful when crafting a portfolio of top-shelf, image content that can be leveraged across their entire online presence and position them powerfully as the authority in their space, there is another important byproduct to this work:
It inspires them to ditch the I’m not photogenic mantra that’s been swirling in their minds for years.
Can you relate to that narrative?
How many times have you passed on a self-portrait with friends and family because you felt like you’ll look terrible in the photo?
How many times have you asked a friend to delete a photo they took with you because you hated your appearance?
How many times have you pushed back your lifestyle portrait session because you wanted to wait to lose more weight, buy better clothing or fill in the blank…?
You feel apprehensive, defeated, insecure, and depressed with your likeness in a photo. And I get it. I’ve been there and, let me tell you, it’s not a good place to be.
But, when you say enough is enough and take the giant leap of investing your time and money into your business to help become visible to those who need your help the most, you’re empowering yourself to face your fears and move forward with what you need to do.
As with facing any fear head-on, the other side of that experience is magical.
And that’s why, at the end of the session, when the client is able to look at these photos and marvel at how wonderful they look despite their initial misgivings, it represents a cathartic and well-deserved moment of victory.
For some clients, our session together opened their eyes to the harshness they’ve unleashed on themselves with regard to how they look in photos, and this experience now represents a turning point in the way they perceive themselves in photos.
And that’s a beautiful thing :)
At the end of the day, whether you believe it or not, you are photogenic, regardless of the crap you tell yourself.
There’s only one you and that makes you special. Period.
Rather than search for reasons to avoid cameras for the rest of your life, own your appearance in the same way that you own your expertise and the way you serve your people.
Give yourself the permission to feel good about the way you look.
You are worth it.
#yeahabsolutely
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