Exhibit A: The dreaded school portrait head tilt.
You remember this from middle school. The photographer says "Ok, now, angle your shoulders away with me, but turn your face towards me, and then tilt your head...more tilt, more tilt". All the while, you're thinking "Is this right? Are you sure this is going to look good?"
Exhibit B: Awkward pose with a prop.
Senior portraits all seem to have some sort of ladder, tree, or huge class year numbers to lean on. Is this supposed to make it look more natural than the head tilt?
School portrait poses asides, I felt like the majority of the poses we did were completely unflattering to my specific body type and more importantly unflattering to MY DRESS.
Most of the shots were taken by the photographer kneeling on the ground and looking up at me, making me look, well let's just say "larger than life". As I was looking down at the camera, it also exposed a nice double chin effect. What bride doesn't want that in her pictures?
The photographer was also a big fan of having me stand away from him, and then twisting my torso to face the camera or at something behind me. I'm pretty sure this is supposed to make you look thinner. But that doesn't take into account that my dress' boned bodice will not twist *with* my body; it will stubbornly stay faced away, pinching my skin and flattening out my under arm. The result is that my side looks like flab is spilling out over the dress and my arm looks like it doesn't understand the word "push-up". Fabulous.
I did come out of the session with some good pictures. The photographer stood on a chair and shot down at me while I sat on the ground. There's no gorgeous backdrop, but these are the only pictures where I feel like I came off looking pretty and like myself. Look, no double chin!
The best picture of the day was a completely candid shot as we were walking to the car to leave.
