Running a small business is no easy task. It's messy and thrilling and terrifying all at the same time. But no matter what, it's definitely a journey worth taking. As a mom of two littles, I know the daily struggles, and I'm here to walk this journey with you. If you're ready to feel empowered, encouraged and on fire for the things you truly love, and you're in the right place. I'm Rebecca Rice, a pizza loving hot chocolate drinking family photographer and educator and this is the business Journey podcast.
Hey, friends, welcome back to another episode of the business Journey podcast. I'm your host, Rebecca. And today we are diving deeper into something that I have found is a big need in the family photography industry. Specifically, it's the one thing that I do to give my clients the best experience possible. While you know we're shooting and that one thing is posing. So we're gonna get into the nitty gritty of posing our families to help them have a better experience with us, which of course leads to them booking more sessions and telling their friends about us. So posing is super important. But before we jump too far into all the things and the technicalities, if you will, of posing, I did want to let you know that I have a free class going on next week, all about posing, it's called the keys to effortless family posing say goodbye to awkward and stiff. So this is a class that has been highly requested. I'm talking it's been on my radar for a good like at least a year and a half if not longer, because I know that posing there's such a need in the family photography space for help with posing because we don't want our clients to look awkward and stiff and unnatural. We want to bring out those genuine smiles capture real moments with our families, because that's what matters. So I'm doing a whole brand new class, I've never done it before. And this is the very first time I'm offering it. So I'm super, super excited. It's gonna be next Wednesday and Thursday, that's March 23, and 24th. And you can sign up today, it's completely free. So you can sign up today at Rebecca rice photo.com/posing-class. So you want to make sure and take advantage of it. It will be completely live. And we'll have a q&a at the end. It's an open q&a to ask all your questions about family photography, it doesn't necessarily have to be questions about posing, but of course it can be. I feel like it's one of those areas that needs to be talked about more. And so I am an open book, willing to share all my tips and tricks for how I pose my families in a way that creates those real genuine moments, those real genuine smiles. So be sure to jump in that class, there will be a replay available for anybody who registers but you have to register to get the replay. It's gonna be a great class, I'm really, really excited to be able to jump into the world of posing with you guys. And if you've been on one of my free classes before, you know that I just like thrive in that environment, being live, getting to answer your questions, and you know, give this no fluff approach to teaching. So I'd love to have you come join us. We're linking it in the show notes for you, but just in case needed again, it's Rebecca rice photo.com/posing-class. Okay, now let's jump into how I use posing, to give my clients an excellent experience. C Client Experience matters. I feel like that's no secret, especially if you've been following me for a while that I'm a big proponent of having an excellent client experience. It's the thing that keeps people not only returning but also telling their friends about you. Because if you have a great experience with someone, or you know, somewhere, let's say you go to the movies or a restaurant or whatever, when you have a great experience somewhere you share that with other people. And so that's what we want is to create an elevate that client experience in any way that we can. The experience that our families have with us really, really matters. Because at the end of the day, and I was talking to somebody about this just the other day, at the end of the day, people won't remember how technically correct their photos were, you know, you could have the most technically correct photos, your exposure is perfect white balance is perfect. At the end of the day, that's not the thing that people are going to hang on to the most when it comes to their photos. Of course it plays a big role. You know, you have to have good photos, but the thing that's going to stick with them the most is how they felt during their session because if our clients feel awkward and super stiff and without guidance throughout this session that's going to carry over into how they view their photos where you can have the most technically correct photos If your client felt super awkward and uncomfortable in the posing where they felt like you didn't know what you were doing, and they didn't know how to position themselves, that's gonna come across, and it sort of puts this like filter over how they see their photos, they're going to be viewing them through that lens of feeling uncomfortable. So then their photos, which could be great, they are going to see as feeling uncomfortable, because that feeling sticks with them. And so our goal with posing families is to erase that feeling of just awkward and uncomfortable and stiff, and replace it with genuine, warm, real moments, memories that these families can look back on and say, Oh, I remember when we took this photo, here's what happened. Or, you know, I remember that this just felt like such a sweet moment that I wanted to remember. And I'm so glad that my photographer captured that for us. That's the feeling that we're wanting to really portray. When we're posing our families. I feel like it's obvious but posing can make or break a session. And I want to ask you, especially those that are new, or maybe you've been in this a while, but you've never really focused on your posing. Have you ever gotten to a session you're excited you meet the family, they show up in these gorgeous outfits. Like they're, it's everything that you've ever wanted, the lighting is perfect, the location is perfect. But then you go to do your session, you start and then you freeze or you panic, I remember feeling this this crazy panic whenever I would step in to my sessions, because I was not confident in my posing at all. I was winging it to be honest. I mean, I probably went a good like year winging my posing because I just didn't know what to do. And of course, the more you practice, the better you get. But man, it was so hard in that whole year of trying to figure out what works trying to find a system that works. And in a way that my clients didn't feel uncomfortable. If you feel awkward, you the photographer feels awkward posing your clients and you freeze and you're not sure what to do next, your clients can sense that and they feel awkward too. I do want to mention that there's a difference between a pose feeling awkward but looking good, and actually being awkward because there are some times that I pose my clients. And I know I'm like, listen, I know that this feels a little bit weird, but I promise you that it looks great on the camera, because I know that it does. And so it's not that it's an actually an awkward situation, they just feel a little awkward, but my confidence makes it not awkward. And so we want to make sure that we invest as much time into our posing education or, you know, our studying up on posing as we do in other areas of our business, you know, like the you know, our marketing and our client experience and all these other pieces that we put together our website or social media, you shouldn't be spending more time on those areas, then you do your posing. And I think posing is one of the things that just gets put on the backburner because we're like, oh, I'll just wing it. Like there's a better way, I'm here to tell you there is a better way. So I want to give you three things that you can do at your very next session to give your clients the best experience that they can, you know, that they can have with posing. So the first thing I said it a little bit, but it's to be confident, even if you have to kind of like fake it till you make it. That's okay, that confidence is what your clients are going to pick up on. And so if they feel uncomfortable, but they see you confident, then that ease is some of their discomfort. And so we want to be confident in the way that we speak the way that we pose, move with intentionality. And give as many like examples as you can. So you can go up to your clients, don't be afraid to help them get into the pose that you're wanting. I know, for me, sometimes I'm trying to stand back and explain a pose that I want, but my words just aren't matching up with the picture that I see in my head. And so it's okay to go up to your clients and help them position in the way that you're trying to get them to that if your words are not matching up with your intentions of what you're trying to do, then that's okay, go and show them how you want them pose. You know, sometimes I will literally I'll like be the mirror and I'll show them where I want them to put their hand or I'll show them how I want them to angle their body. And that visual helps a lot. And so be confident when you're showing visuals. Be confident whenever you are explaining what pose is going to happen next. And think ahead, so that there's never this awkward just period where you're like, Ah, okay, next, let's, uh, that's what your clients pick up on. Like this girl does not know what she's doing. So think ahead while you're shooting a pose. Be thinking about what you're going to shoot next so that you can have a confident answer and guide Your clients into where they need to be next. I know that's easier said than done, of being confident. And if you have to fake it till you make it do that to start with, but they're going to pick up on that confidence. And so maybe you practice that at home, you know, with your family or in the mirror, practice, having that confidence and speaking, clearly, speaking boldly, and explaining to your clients what you're going to have them do. Because that confidence makes a big difference in the long run. The second thing that you can do to give your clients the best experience that they can have with posing, is to have pose ideas beforehand, like before your session. So always something like this, you're gonna have to study. And you know, it's kind of like a test at school, you have to study to be able to do well. So I would get in the habit of before any session, I arrive early, and then I, you know, think through what poses i want to put these families in, you know, I know, going into the session, because I send my clients a questionnaire, I know how many people and the ages of the kids that I'm going to be working with. And so I you know, turn to Pinterest and look for inspiration for that specific demographic. Or if it's like, you know, a family with two big kids and a baby, that I can search that on Pinterest for ideas for posing for that. And so I go in beforehand, with a plan of which poses that I want to do, I also have, you know, a posing workflow that I do. So I have the same groupings that I shoot every single time. And we're actually going to do a whole podcast episode on that here pretty soon. So be on the lookout for that, but have your pose ideas beforehand and study them so that when you go into the session that you can walk, walk with confidence and know what poses you want your families to do. The third thing which kind of goes hand in hand with this one that you can do to give your clients the best experience with posing is to keep a cheat sheet if you have to. So something that I think is absolutely genius that I've seen people do, there's really two things First, is I've seen people you know, create a collage of inspiration poses that they want to use. And they save it as their homescreen, or their lock screen on their phone. So that all they have to do is you know, pick up their phone and glance down and they can see it this posing inspiration, that's a really great way to have this cheat sheet and let it be kind of inconspicuous so that your clients don't necessarily know that you're studying or you're looking at your cheat sheet. But it gives you that little burst of inspiration to be able to keep the session moving. Now the other way that you can do this, and I absolutely love this idea, it's even more inconspicuous is you can have either a list or you know, a printed out picture or whatever, some kind of inspiration, again, that cheat sheet. But you can take a picture of it on your camera and let that be the first photo on your SD card. So that as you're taking pictures, you know, your posing your clients, whatnot, you go and hit play to you know, see the photos that you've taken, all you have to do is scroll one over to the first photo on your camera, and you can see your cheat sheet notes. So if it's you know, like I said poses written out or posing prompts, or like you print out a collage with different inspiration, photos, whatever, you already took a picture of it on your camera, so you can use that as your cheat sheet. And clients think you're just looking at the camera, you know, at the photos very taken to make sure that eyes are open and things like that, that your settings are correct. But you're checking in to make sure you're getting the poses that you want or you have the prompts. So don't feel like you can't use those. And eventually, you'll get to a place where you won't need that. It's kind of like crutches for you that it helps you build your strength. But at some point, you'll be able to put them away and walk confidently without them. So don't feel like you can't use that. But please don't hang on to it forever. At some point, you're going to have to trust yourself that you know what you're doing, and that you can confidently pose your families without the cheat sheet. Those are three things that you can do super simple and very practical that you can use at your next session. I really hope this helps. I'm trying to you know, be as practical as I can with posing. I know posing a lot of times is very visual, but I think that there are some really, you know, easy things that can be explained on things like a podcast about posing. So I hope this is helpful. And if you want to know even more about posing don't forget to sign up for my free posing class that's happening next week. You have three opportunities to watch because I'm going live three different times. And so we're talking about keys to effortless family posing. This is like what we talked about today is very much scraping the surface of what we're going to cover in the free class. So if this was helpful if you're hungry for more free help about posing I definitely enroll in that class because I know it will be helpful for you. And I love it because the stuff that I'm teaching in the class can be applied immediately, you know, your very next session, you can jump in and apply this stuff. So you're going to leave with pages and pages of notes and be able to use it right away.
So I'd love to see you there, grab, you know the link in the show notes to be able to sign up and I will see you there live. So with that, we're going to go ahead and close out for today friends, I hope you have an awesome week and I will see you back again this time next week. Bye guys.
