The Bones of Posing - Grove

The song goes "Take another picture with your click, click, click, click camera" (Bishop Allen, Album: The Broken String, 2007).


Watch the video as a fun diversion, or skip it, or watch it later.

So, I had my own click, click, click camera experience recently. I'm officially an author now, so I have to have author type pictures, right? Right. Seriously. It's a rule. You can look it up.

Anyway, I spent the summer interviewing photographers (yes, I recommend interviewing photographers and finding the person you feel most comfortable working with), and finally found one in late August. Hurray! His name is Grant and he's a wonder boy with a camera (actually he's a grown up man with a wife and kids and bills to pay, but his infectious sense of fun makes him feel like a boy wonder).

We chose an outdoor setting (in a park near the river in the evening - ah, twas lovely!) and Grant made the fantastic suggestion to bring my hubby along. And for good reason!

Grant photographs all sorts of things/people/and occasions, but the bread and butter of all photographers is weddings. He showed me several engagement pictures he had done. On his computer screen there was a lovely, smiling bride to be. Grant said, "Okay, here she is smiling at the camera." Nice. Then he showed me another picture of the same bride-elect. "This time," said Grant. "Here she is a split second after she smiled at her finance." WOW! She was lit up! Everything about her (which was lovely to begin with) was improved. Her smile, her posture, her sparkling eyes.

I brought my hubby along. He carried my shoes (sandy terrain, rocks, fences to climb - I needed to kick the heels off from time to to time), and did his level best to keep me smiling. By the way, my hubby is a pastor, but he is nut-bar too. For over an hour he did a soft-shoe routine that cracked me up so badly my face hurt by the time we were done. He did puppet hands, told jokes, did rabbit-ears to the photographer, anything to remind me how much I love him and to make me smile. Grant clicked away, giving tips and calling for me to change poses (tip your chin down SLIGHTLY, Bonnie, no need to put your head down like you are about to charge through the entire defensive line!)

When we were done, the sun was setting, I was exhausted, Steve was giddy, and Grant had taken over 400 frames. Keep in mind we are only looking for ONE shot here. But, like Mama used to say, "You have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your prince charming. Well, I wasn't kissing frogs, but I was posing my head off, knowing that in the midst of all that movement, planning, staging, and capturing the "perfect" light, there was THE shot. The one I will use on my book covers, web site, blog, newsletters - everywhere. Uber-Bonnie.

I don't have the picture in my hot little hands just yet. Soon. And I'll use it here when I do get it, so you can have a see. For now, if you like, you can check out Grant's amazing site (he's gifted!) at: http://www.imageadventure.com/

So, would I recommend taking an entire summer finding a photographer, and an entire evening trying to get THE picture? Yes. Absolutely! A well thought out photograph, that captures who you are and sends the right message to your readers will go a long way. It's worth the time, money, and effort to get it right!

Bonnie Grove is the author of three upcoming books: Fiction, from David C. Cook: Talking to the Dead (coming summer 2009), and Talking to Angels (spring 2010), and the Non-fiction book from Beacon Hill Press: Your Best You: Discovering and Developing the Strengths God Gave You (March 1, 2009) you can find out more at her website www.bonniegrove.com and her blog http://www.fictionmatters.blogspot.com