If I told you that the best way to get a genuine portrait of the real you was to dress up and play make believe, you might think I was crazy! But I have good reasons for saying that.
Self-conciousness is the enemy of great portraits. Nearly everyone is self concious and uncomfortable in a professional portrait setting simply because of lack of esperience, and often the experience that many people have had in the past were not pleasant ones. This usually results in forced expressions and stiff poses, and the finished portraits lack that lifelike quality and sparkle. Now we have a vicious circle, fears and insecurites result in less than great portraits which confirm those fears and insecurities, leading to the same experience the next time, or more likely avoiding the next time altogether. The best photographers are those who can put their subjects at ease and make them forget for a moment that they are being photographed.
Many, if not most, women desire to be the subject of a portrait that reveals the beauty and sexiness that they feel or want to feel that they have. Very few women believe that kind of portrait is possible. I have found that that belief has no connection to do with reality, often the most beautiful women are the most most insecure about their bodies. The true challenges in creating a glamourous sexy portrait of a woman are almost never the woman's physical features. The true challenges lie in making her believe that she is as beautiful and sexy as she is, and gaining her trust in the photographer's ablility to capture those qualities in the most flattering way possible.
I've been aware of these challenges for years, and have found many ways to overcome them. The hardest challenge is almost always developing the trust required for the client to "take a chance": and commit to a session. Once that is done I've almost never had a session that didn't exceed the clients best hopes and expectations by a wide margin.
When I started developing my line of 1950s pinup portraits, I did it because I love the genre and thought it would be a lot of fun. So it caught me a bit by surprise when I discovered what a perfect style of photography it was for making my clients quickly lose their self-conciousness, and literally blossom in front of my eyes. For my client, 1950s pinup portraits involve dressing up, doing hair and makeup in a style different than she is used to. It is not just taking on a role, but stepping into a make believe world that is that is fun and romantic, and that is not one that is part of her every day life.Even the expressions are play acting. The classic "oops" look when the dress catches on the ladder, or the puppy tries to steal the bathing suit top. The pouty look, the surprise look, the seductive smile and many others. Instead of being difficult these looks become easier when they are supported by a set and wardrobe and hair and makeup that all scream make believe and fantasy. Try wearing high heels, stockings and and garter belt while hannging clothes on a line or picnicing in the woods and see how seriously you take the whole scene.
The irony is, the make believe and fantasy of pretending to be someone else brings out the most amazingly real you. You forget about the fears and insecurities that are not real, and instead let out the fun, palyful, sexy part of you that is real. It's no wonder that the biggest fans of my 1950s pinup portraits are the men that receive them as gifts from my clients. In them they see the woman they fell in love with, the woman that turns them on, not because of the amount of clothes that she is or isn't wearing, but because of the twinkle in her eyes and the confidence in her pose. And because those fears and insecurities that don't turn him on are nowhere to be seen.