My favorite thing about my clients is that they are all so beautiful. Let me explain…

I read an interesting article the other day about men and women in photos. It was a study done on one of the major dating sites that talked about good and bad profile pictures. It broke down photographic habits when it comes to what people are posting by 3 main things: where the picture was taken, what the person was wearing and what kind of expression they had on their face.

This seemed simple enough. But what I found interesting was that when these concepts were broken down by gender, it started to explain some of the things I find true everyday in my photo shoots: in general, Men are easier to photograph.

When men come to photo shoots, they aren’t so concerned with how they look. They don’t bring a million changes of clothes and they don’t come with entirely too much makeup on. Women tend to be used to posing and looking “pretty” for the camera, whereas men tend to find it easier to be themselves. I realize these are generalizations, and not always the case, but it does seem to happen enough to mention.

I think that a big part of this is our culture. In America, our concept of beauty, especially as a woman, can be rather strict and confining. Anyone who watches TV, sees a billboard or picks up a magazine knows what we are “supposed” to look like. But if we spend time in the real world, at a real party, in a real board room, on a real street, it’s plain to see that these airbrushed ideals are simply ideas being sold to us. And if we get clear with ourselves, we know that true beauty is something that cannot be prescribed but rather only experienced. In the end that old saying, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” is the truth.

If I’m honest, I enjoy being trusted. I see beauty everywhere, but mostly in those I photograph. I have the privilege to spend a few hours with these unique humans in an effort to capture their essence. Each person has something very different to offer to a partner, to a job, to the world. And so my favorite part of being a photographer of both men and women is recognizing their distinctive beauty and then finding a way for us to experience it together.