What actually happens on the day

Before the day

By the time you arrive, none of the decisions are still open. That is the point of the weeks beforehand.

• We talk first, before anything is booked, about what you want made and where your boundaries sit. If something is off the table, it is written down then, not negotiated on the day.
• Wardrobe, mood and light are planned together in advance. The wardrobe guide is there to make that conversation easier, not to set homework.
• A preparation guide for your kind of session is sent ahead so nothing is a surprise.
• You will know where the session is, how long it runs, and who else will be present. The answer to the last one is nobody, unless you have asked for someone.
• The model release is published in full and can be read weeks beforehand. Reading it before you book is encouraged, not unusual.

Arriving

The first part of a session is not photography. It is the part that makes the photography work, and it is never rushed.

• You arrive, you get a drink, and we talk. The camera stays where it is.
• We look at the space and the light together, and lay out everything you brought so the order of the session makes sense.
• The release is read and signed together, properly, clause by clause. If you want to change a permission at that point, you change it.
• You change when you are ready, and there is a robe for in between.
• If you brought a friend or partner, they can stay for the whole session or just the first half hour. Both are common, and neither needs explaining.
• Bring music if it helps. It does more for the room than people expect.

The first frames

Deliberately the easiest ones. Nobody starts at the deep end.

• We begin with the most covered look you brought, usually a robe or a shirt, and a simple seated or standing position.
• You will be shown the back of the camera within the first few minutes. That is on purpose. Seeing an actual photograph of yourself, early, does more than any amount of reassurance beforehand.
• The first ten minutes feel strange for everyone. That is not nerves failing, it is just what the first ten minutes are, and it passes without you noticing.

How posing actually works

This is the part people dread and the part that turns out to require nothing of them at all.

• You are never asked to pose. You are given one small instruction at a time: where the weight goes, which way to turn the chin, where a hand rests, when to breathe out. Each is easy on its own.
• A pose is built, not struck. Nothing is held from the start. Frames are made continuously while small corrections are made, so there is no moment where you have to get it right.
• Nothing is held for long. If something aches, say so immediately. Discomfort always shows in the face before it shows anywhere else.
• You will be told when something is working. That is information about the frame, not flattery, and it is worth trusting.
• Nothing is touched or adjusted without asking first. If a strap or a hem needs to move, you will be asked to move it yourself, or asked before anyone else does.

The things people actually worry about

Taken from what people ask in the days before, answered plainly.

• "I'm not photogenic." Being photogenic is mostly being well lit and well directed. Both of those are somebody else's job on the day, and neither of them is a quality you either have or lack.
• "I won't know what to do with my hands or my face." You will be told, every time, for every frame. This is the most common worry and the one that dissolves fastest.
• "What if I freeze." Common, and nothing is lost when it happens. We slow down, change the look, put the robe back on, talk for a minute, start again.
• "Do I have to be nude." No. Nudity is never assumed and never required, in either genre. What is photographed is agreed before the camera comes out, and you can narrow it further at any point during the session.
• "What if I want to stop." Then it stops. That includes stopping altogether, and it costs you nothing and requires no reason.
• "What if I cry." People do, more often than you would guess, and usually not from distress. The camera goes down and you get as long as you want.
• "What if I'm the oldest, or the largest, or the most scarred person you have photographed." You will not be, and more to the point nobody is being sorted into a category. Scars, stretch marks, surgery, tattoos and skin that has lived are all ordinary in this work, and none of them is a problem to be solved.
• "Will you be judging me." No, and it is worth saying why rather than just promising it. A few minutes in, the session becomes a technical job about light, line and shape. That is genuinely where the attention goes.

Breaks, changes and the middle of the session

The unglamorous mechanics, so none of it catches you off guard.

• There are up to three changes of wardrobe, and each change is a natural break. Water, robe, sit down.
• Clothing marks fade during those breaks, which is one reason the order of looks is planned rather than random.
• You can look at frames as we go, as often as you like. Some people want to see everything, others prefer not to look until the gallery. Both are fine.
• If you want to change direction mid-session, say so. The plan exists to make the day calm, not to be obeyed.

How it ends

Quietly, and without a second appointment attached to it.

• The session is two hours, unhurried, with time inside it to change, to talk and to look at frames as we go. Full details are on the session page.
• Two hours is the session, not a stopwatch. A few minutes over is ordinary and is never charged for. If you want a longer day, a further hour is A$150 and is best arranged when you book, so the light and the location can be planned around it rather than improvised at the end.
• There is no sales meeting. No viewing appointment, no ordering session, no advice to bring a decision-maker or a credit card. Prints and albums exist and are available later if you want them, and they are never a condition of anything.
• You leave, and the work moves to editing.

Your images

What arrives, when, and in what state.

• A private online gallery follows within about two weeks.
• Fifteen photographs, hand-finished one at a time, never batch-processed.
• Full-resolution files, downloadable, with no watermark. The gallery is yours to keep.
• Retouching is light and goes toward how you look on a good day. Skin is evened, distractions are removed, light is shaped. Your body is not reshaped unless you specifically ask for it, and asking for less is as welcome as asking for more.

Afterwards

The part that outlasts the session, and the part worth reading carefully.

• Nothing is published, printed, entered or shown to anyone without the specific permissions you ticked on the release. Declining every one of them and still having your session is a completely normal choice.
• Anonymity is always available: never named, never tagged, never attributed.
• If you change your mind later, write and say so. Future publication of any image stops on request, and that is written into the release rather than granted as a favour.
• Original files stay on local storage rather than public cloud services. What happens to your photographs sets out the whole of it, clause by clause.

Still uncertain about something on this page? That is the most normal thing in the world. Ask before you book, and read what to wear and the preparation guides when you are ready.