Allow me to introduce you to my lovely friend Abbey! She contacted me because she needed some new professional photos for work, as well as personal branding portraits. She made the work so easy. I mean, just look!! She’s as kind as she is beautiful.

I scouted the city and found just the right spot for our session in downtown Knoxville. The weather was surprisingly wonderful for January, which is always a shocker! But you never know what you’ll get in Knoxville in January!

Since Abbey wanted both casual and professional images, we focused on getting a few really great shots for each purpose that she could use in different situations. Like most people, Abbey was a bit nervous about looking “too posed” in her photos. I hear this concern a lot. I think everyone thinks back to our awkwardly posed high school senior photos! (Anybody else have those?!?)

But I let her in on a secret before the session:

When you’re posed correctly, you look natural. When you try to “act natural,” you look ridiculously posed.

Sounds crazy, right? But it’s totally true. Just think of any time someone has stood in front of you with a camera and told you to “just act natural!” I’m willing to bet you end up with stiff arms and a weird expression on your face. I still do this sometimes (ok, often) if I’m caught off guard! It takes the right guidance and the right cues to get someone to actually look comfortable in a photo.

So I worked with Abbey and gave her cues on the right way to position her body and limbs to make her images look fresh, easy, and natural. And she loved her photos in the end, which made my heart sing!

If you’re in need of new portraits, let’s chat! I’d love to help you. Be sure to read this blog post I wrote about how to prepare for your head shots or branding session. Or take a look at some of my other portrait work.