As much as I would love to think that everyone feels comfortable in front of the camera I know that is not true. I will be the first to admit it that I hate being in front of the camera which could be why I love being behind it. I think we are our own toughest critic. We can see flaws in areas that no one else will notice which can sometimes be hard to over come.
A few days ago I get an email from a mom-to-be who is due in just a few short weeks. From the very first email I could tell how much she really was looking forward to the arrival of her little one and she wanted so much to have nice photos of herself to capture this special time in her life. In our first telephone conversation she expressed her concern about how she wasn’t completely comfortable with how she looks and was even thinking about chopping all her hair off to get a new look before the baby comes. Right away I remembered how I felt when I was pregnant and how I wanted to do the same thing.
Today I met with this special mom-to-be and she is one of the sweetest people I have met. I believe that sometimes it is necessary to have the opportunity to meet the person you are going to working with in advance no matter what the situation. We had a lovely afternoon and by the end of our time together I could see she was starting to get excited about her session.
Its little things like these that remind me how much I love my job. Yes I said “job” though its not what it feels like. I love meeting new people and I want to bring out everyone’s inner beauty for all to see. I have been told a number of times this week that I have a way of capturing the true personalities of all the wonderful people I work with. The end result is not just another posed photograph but rather something that is more like a moment captured in time. That is a wonderful compliment and just goes to show that I have succeeded in what I set out to do.
I hope that every person I am fortunate to work with is able to feel comfortable and be themselves. Sometimes this might mean we need that extra time to get to know each other a bit first and that is perfectly fine with me. 
