Reasons to have a professional photography portrait taken (and FIVE terrible reasons to put it off!)

My clients often tell me that the idea of sitting for a professional photography portrait grew slowly over time. Here are the five most common reasons why people hesitate:

• I can’t spare the time.
• I’m not beautiful enough.
• People will think I’m vain.
• Is this money well spent? I’ve got bills to pay.
• My niece/brother/friend is handy with a camera – that’ll be fine!

In fact, all these anxieties express the same thing: a fear of valuing yourself. A fear of putting yourself first. Ever.

The child within

I recently read a beautiful article about a young American girl whose life was changed by the experience of a professional photography portrait shoot.  She suffered debilitating insecurity and lack of confidence, but having the focus on her alone for the duration of the shoot taught her that she had value, and the final images showed her that she was beautiful. 

This is something that resonates with me because I felt slightly overlooked as a child, although I wouldn’t have know how to phrase it then. I sometimes wish that I could travel back in time with my camera and take young Nina through a proper portrait shoot. How affirming it would have been to have someone who understood how to place me, how to frame me, how to light me, how to reveal my inner self to myself. In short, to show me that I was worth noticing! And, if that had happened then, I would have the images with me now. As it is, all the surviving photos of that little girl look like this blurry snap: 

We get older – that’s the sad truth! – but inside us all that child still exists, still needs to be valued, still needs to feel that they can be the most important person in the room, at least some of the time. And that that’s OK. That’s as it should be.

Invest in yourself

Sometimes it can be hard to accept that the most important thing in our lives is ourselves. Learn that, and only then can you become the best version of yourself in your home, your workplace, your child’s school. 

I speak from experience. For years, I worked at the things that other people told me I had to do. I poured my energies into their priorities. I exhausted myself meeting their demands. It was a pretty scary thing to break away and follow my true passion – portrait photography. Even now, there’s a nagging voice somewhere in the back of my head telling me I’m being self-indulgent, or that I don’t deserve it. To stick with it takes persistent self-belief – I call it grit!

The best version of you

A professional photography portrait shows you the best version of yourself. This is the self you should carry around inside you. The self that tells you you’re strong enough when your boss thinks you’re not up to the job, the self that tells you to keep going when you’re running the half-marathon, the self who tells you you’re capable of being the parent you wanted to be.

This is where a professional portrait shoot is completely different to the pictures taken by friends and family. The shoot itself is an experience, one in which you learn to value yourself. And the final images are so much stronger. 

A good professional photographer will advise you on such things as make-up, skin and hair and what to wear. She understands beauty and how to find it. This will be rooted in a technical understanding gained through the study of art history, colour theory and iconic photographers. Building on that, her experience in shoot after shoot teaches her the possibilities of the human face and the human form. By drawing on that knowledge, she can reveal what is so beautiful about you.

What do we value?

You might spend £300 a month to lease a Nissan Qashqai, or £200 on a dress that you end up wearing once or maybe twice. The car is just a car; the dress spends most of its life fending off moths in your wardrobe. A portrait shoot is an experience that stays with you, and the images it produces will be there always for you and your loved ones. 

Value your self!

I would love to help you create a portrait that reflects you and shows you at your best. Please email me at nina@ninacarringtonphotography.com for a free consultation.