Yoga's Role in Headshot Photography
Closing the gap between appearance and feeling
Do you know what your face is doing right now?
In other words, what does your facial expression look like at any given moment?
Have you ever had your picture taken, only to be surprised as to what your face was doing in the photo?
There is a massive disconnect between what it feels like and what it actually looks like.
Here’s an example.
When I was a brand new yoga teacher in 2014, I wanted to gauge how well the class was going by looking at the faces of my students.
I realized pretty fast that I wasn’t going to get the non-verbal feedback I was looking for.
It wasn’t going to happen because, in general, people don’t look happy when they are exercising.
In fact, when everyone is focused on different yoga poses in the class, the last thing they’re worried about is what their face is doing.
To expand on this idea, even when my students were giving their full effort to correctly do the yoga poses, there was still a discrepancy between what they thought their body was doing and what was actually happening.
That’s what the teacher is there for - to bridge that gap and make the students aware of the changes needed to improve.
I would frequently remind my students to unshrug their shoulders, engage their core, soften their clenched jaw or have everyone take a deep breath and just see the tension disappear.
Most of the time, we don’t know what our face or body looks like to someone else.
As a headshot and portrait photographer, I found this to be especially true.
Even when someone is actively attempting to make their facial expression as favorable as possible, they typically have no idea what it actually looks like.
We are about to shoot a high resolution photograph of your face.
Who wouldn’t be terrified?!
My photography clients can be nervous and self-conscious, which is absolutely understandable.
It is absolutely understandable to be nervous and self-conscious when being photographed
The photos will live on forever, which is even more intimidating.
Whereas in the yoga class situation, there won’t be a permanent record of your yoga poses from class!
It’s truly incredible how a few deep breaths can change someone’s physical expression.
I bring my expertise as a yoga teacher into the photography studio to help my clients feel relaxed as we work to get them into a comfortable and flattering position.
I notice and eliminate any tension in their face, working to create a genuine smile or look of confidence for the photograph.
I have a bag of tricks to pull from to help my clients look photogenic on camera.
Some of the tricks absolutely feel weird, but look good.
I use the discrepancy between how we feel our face might look and how it actually looks as a learning tool.
We can close the gap and learn that the way it feels actually looks a certain way and creates the confidence needed to be in front of the camera.
In yoga, you learn to make the correct shape with your body, creating a deeper understanding between the feeling and the reality.
It’s exactly the same with photography.