 Close your eyes for a second and think of like a stereotypical photographer. You may picture somebody like Austin Powers, a larger than life figure who is just the life and soul of the party. But what happens if that's not you? What happens if you are a shy quiet introverted photographer who's afraid of taking pictures of people? How's it? How's it? It's a really is a big issue isn't it? You know if you are a little bit nervous about what might happen when you're taking pictures of people or something like that then you cut yourself off from that avenue of portraits and you know studies and maybe some fashion all that kind of good stuff that is actually really enjoyable to do and to and to create simply because you are worried about what people might think about what will happen if someone goes wrong you know what happens if you do the wrong thing. I understand I know what it's like even though you know I'm sitting here talking to you and even though I used to take photographs you know portraits family portraits for a living I am an extremely introverted person. I you know I've managed over the years to overcome that and that's what I want to share with you. Today is how you can challenge the issues that you think that you have about taking portraits of people and and really be more confident with a camera. It doesn't have to be just portraits can be street life and you know any of the kind of stuff we actually photographing people. The very first thing that you absolutely need to be on top of is knowing your equipment and by that I mean that you don't want to be sitting in a in a session and you're fussing over the you know the settings and you're trying to make something work what have you. Understand how your camera works you don't have to know inside out what have you but you need to know the basics you need to know how to take a meter reading quickly and all these things they want to be second nature because the the more that you start worrying about what's going on in your camera and you have to change things up and what have you the more that you're going to get yourself into a tiz you're going to go oh don't know what's going on and stuff like that and you're going to put yourself under a lot of pressure so my advice would be to learn your camera look through the manual understand how the various things work in your camera and how to change them have some backup stuff have a spare battery you know have two lenses if you're able to you know all these sort of things just you know belt and braces sort of stuff as we say here in the UK so just make sure that you understand how the gear side of things work which is an unusual thing to say on this channel I'm not usually about the gear but by having all of that squared away having it all in place means that you don't you have one less thing to worry about. Back in photo school days we were required fairly obviously to take pictures of people and that was a real problem for me because I was painfully shy like like you wouldn't believe painfully shy you know it's like I just couldn't talk to anybody who I didn't really know and that was a problem because you know we needed to photograph people so I ended up photographing my friends at photo school and that was okay but the real issue comes in is that if those friends didn't like the picture that they would tell me that oh this is rubbish I don't like it because you know zero filter right and and that can be really detrimental to your confidence especially when you are trying to create something that is is quite personal like like photography so I would recommend that if you are unable to is to photograph a model first rather than photographing family and friends or what have you because it will take that pressure away and you won't have the reminder hanging over your head of somebody if they don't like the photographs it's not hard to find a model you can have places like model mayhem or purple port and and look for somebody who's doing a time for prints this is where the model exchanges their time in return for some prints from you and this I feel is a better way of doing things then group model sessions that you have at camera clubs and what have you the problem with that is that it's not helping you overcome your shyness it's not teaching you to interact with the model themselves that model is just it's like one of it's like a cat or call isn't it it's like one model and you know 10 photographers all I just can't really be doing it and that kind of neatly brings us on to the idea of communication Edward Steichen said that a portrait is not made in the camera but on either side of it and that is I mean it's one of the great truisms of photography and to be a competent portrait photographer to take good pictures of people you need to learn to communicate now this doesn't mean talking non-stop a million miles an hour and being the life and soul of the party and all sort of stuff but it does mean not being that photographer who just sits there going just you know that kind of thing you don't want to be that photographer because the model is going to stand there so well I don't really know what it is that you want to do now you don't have to sit and give them precise instructions about things you just want to give them a bit of direction and and you can just you know you can talk to these people they are there for you they are there because you know that they want to be there they have to be forced to be in front of your camera so just you know hi hi Cindy how you doing yeah lovely to hear okay all that kind of stuff little conversational bits with them it doesn't have to be full-on you're not going on a date with these people you know you you just you're having a conversation with somebody who you've just met you can talk about basic things and talk through the session with them say look this is what I've got as a plan for today I'd like to try this thing I'd like to try that thing I'd like to try you know XYZ things and all of this helps you to overcome that nervousness that apprehension about photographing a person about being in this what is actually quite an intimate setting with somebody else and photographing them exclusively so this conversation that you're having with the model about what's going to be happening at the session to begin with I would highly recommend that whether or not you photograph in a studio or outdoors that you keep things simple that you don't try and recreate some wow amazing look of a shoot that seems technically complex to begin with start with the basics it may seem like is very dreary it may seem like it's very dull you know but do some headshots some you know head and shoulders half bodies three quarter lengths you know over the shoulder you know all these kind of just very basic things learn to do the baby steps first right don't worry about fancy lighting and stuff because that way you're going to have confidence you're going to do some basic things and you're going to get them right because of course you are because you know you know what you're doing it's all cool man you know so just take it easy little steps little steps talk to the talk to the models usually these models got some ideas of their own as well so if you've got a you know we've got a shoot map which we'll talk about in a second talk through the through it with the model and they will also feel more comfortable with what's going on because they're involved in the process much like knowing your gear and understanding how your gear works having an idea about what you want to achieve in your photo shoot when you're shooting portraits with somebody is is is vital you need to have an idea so you do things like make a shoot map I used to do this with with my portrait sessions because you know I would photograph a family so we would go through various you know poses that were all the same and that way I knew that all the bases were ticked about you know we get the family together we get the mums and the daughters to get the dad to the you know those sort of sort of things so I wouldn't miss them right and you can do the same with your sessions go through that you know the idea of having the basics first find images you know make a Pinterest board something like that of portraits that you like that you find out interesting and then once you've done the basics at the session if you've got some more time you can try a little bit more of an advanced thing and these there is no shame in printing out photographs and saying to the person who you are you know photographing look this is what I've got would you like should we try this let's try to recreate this because it's a great way of learning some of the best learning that I've ever done is trying to recreate portraits that look like photographs that I'm you know that I'm a big fan of I'm gonna put up on screen here now it's like here's this portrait of Tom Hanks by Dan Winters I love it I think it's great and here's my attempt at copying that photograph from copying that photograph I learnt so much about really my new control of lighting what have you and that leaked through into my day-to-day shooting so these are great ways of you building up your confidence building up your your skills in portrait photography of overcoming that shyness because you know it's shyness is all coming there from just like you don't know what's on the other side of that door there's a door in front of you that says portraits go through it then go through and just give it a try just it's it's a wonderful experience you know it's but but do it just don't worry about it you know don't get up in these knots you know ultimately you know we take photographs to have fun and to enjoy ourselves and that's what I'd like you to do is next time you are out there photographing somebody just relax just chill and just go do you know what cool hey Cindy we're gonna have a lovely time today let's create some awesome portraits I'm so looking forward to this and and just go with it if things you know if something goes wrong yeah mania mania doesn't matter right just a bit of advice that I got from back in my old you know theater days was running the lighting desk and stuff and I'll get so nervous because oh my god there's like a show and there's like 500 people watching and you know that the guy teach me the desk said look just relax if you get it wrong no one knows right no one is going to die so just chill enjoy it you know have fun it's so nice to take pictures of people and as you get better and as you get more confident you're going to immerse yourself deep into that world of portrait photography so that's your your thing for this year is if you're going to challenge yourself with one thing for 2022 yeah 2022 right is I would like you to go and photograph in an environment that makes you nervous and I don't mean in a dangerous place it's a like some you know really sort of ghetto sort of thing that go and be photographing of something that you apprehensive about doing challenge yourself push yourself through I know you can do it doesn't matter you know what you think might happen just just see go ahead despite the fact that you may be shy about taking photographs of people I believe that you are braver than you give yourself credit for and I've talked about this a little bit over here in this video go and check it out and see if you agree with me thank you ever so much for watching and enjoy your portrait photography