Original subtitles

I am particularly excited for this lesson.

It is how to shoot a curvy bride.

Now, one of my favorite things as a

wedding photographer is the ability to make a

girl feel beautiful.

It is the most amazing job perk for

me to walk away having seen somebody blossom

in front of my camera.

I can't tell you the gratification that it

feels, and I see you guys nodding in

the audience, so we understand what that means.

So now that we're on the same page,

I realize that I have read over the

internet over the years that there are photography

tutorials addressing how to photograph large brides, how

to photograph plus-size brides, how to photograph

overweight brides.

But what I'm going to say that this

is different because this is not one of

those.

Remotely, this guide, this lesson, will be how

to shoot a bride of any size, but

lucky for us today, the bride is a

size 16.

She came in to this shoot knowing that

I wanted to shoot somebody with curves so

that the things that I'm applying, because there

is also another lesson, top five bridal tips,

but the criticism that I can easily come

across is, well, that's easy, Jasmine, because all

of your brides are X.

And that's not the case.

I just happen to be really good at

making girls of any size be confident, and

confidence translates as beauty, and beauty is what

is so attractive in a photo from the

inside out.

So the tips I'm going to be sharing

today apply to how I shoot all of

my brides, and I'm going to be mentioning

specific ways to highlight curves and focus on

finding good angles.

Most important is I want my clients to

feel comfortable.

When they feel comfortable, they are empowered to

shine.

Now, the number one tip that I can

give when shooting a bride of curvy nature

or any nature is to make sure that

she is having a good time.

If she is not having a good time,

you will be climbing an uphill battle.

I want women to feel beautiful.

I want them to feel effortless.

I want them to feel whole in front

of my camera, and it is not her

job to be that way.

It is my job to make her that

way, and I do this by talking to

her behind my camera, but this is something

that I do to all my clients.

Now that you are so far advanced into

this 30-day course, you will now know

that I am a talker.

I am not naturally a talker.

I prefer silence, but when it comes to

working with my clients, I err on the

side of really meeting her where she is.

And secondly, I am constantly providing positive feedback.

That is so important, but it is so

important for girls who might be struggling with

image issues, and I am not talking about

weight.

I could be talking about appearance.

I could be talking about scarring.

I could be talking about premature greying.

I could be talking about wrinkles.

Whatever that issue is for a female, I

want to make sure that I'm ahead of

her saying, you got this, you're beautiful, you

got this, you got this.

So for an hour, she's going to walk

away thinking, I got this, I got this,

and that's exactly what I want.

Lastly, I'm going to modify each pose to

ensure that I am doing two things, highlighting

curves and understanding her angles.

Now, what I want to do is I

want to first clarify that it is not

a photographer's job to mask or hide what

a girl looks like.

A photographer's job is to highlight what she

looks like, and highlighting the best parts of

her is what good photographers do.

Now, getting a bride comfortable is easy when

I follow the following things.

I talk to my bride behind the camera.

I have said this just a couple minutes

ago.

I'm going to say it again in case

you might have dozed off, because this is

a key thing that I do.

I instruct her to relax her shoulders.

It is natural when a bride gets nervous

that this comes up, and that is never

a good look.

So I'm constantly saying, take a deep breath,

relax the shoulders.

Also, I am asking her to pull in

her core.

I choose my words carefully.

I tell all my brides of any shape

to pull in their core, because overall, it

makes the female figure look stronger.

It focuses on their posture.

But far be it from me to ever

say, suck in your stomach, bring in your

belly.

There's a difference.

And because when you say pull in your

core, it's no longer just bring in your

stomach.

It's pulling in the core, pulling the shoulders

back, and that happens naturally when you use

the right verbiage.

Lastly, a big thing that I do to

help highlight curves is to ask the bride

to distribute her weight into one leg or

the other.

What this does is it brings the weight

out of both knees and locking of the

thighs and creates a nice, relaxed structure, resting

her booty naturally back, her core up, chin

out, and down.

These are a few things that you're going

to see me discuss in this lesson, and

now we're going to walk into that video.

So today we are in Laguna Beach, but

specifically Laguna Canyon.

We're less than a mile away from the

beach, but kind of like a rustic feel

at sunset.

What we're going to be talking about today

is how to shoot a curvy bride, specifically

how we're going to be shooting a curvy

bride in a way that's most complimentary, period.

Now I say most complimentary not because she's

curvy, not because she's not curvy.

I want to shoot my brides in any

shape, any size, any color, the most complimentary

way.

One of my top priorities is to ensure

that the bride feels that when she looks

at her wedding photos, they look like a

distinction and a derivative of my portfolio.

She hired me specifically for a reason.

I want to make sure that what she's

going to get from her wedding day doesn't

look any different because of her size.

It simply looks like an extension of the

portfolio.

So I'm not going to employ techniques that

I have seen or heard, one of them

being people would say, oh, you should shoot

down on a bride.

So if the bride were to squat and

I shoot down on her, sure, it might

look complimentary, but I've never done that with

any of my other brides, so why would

I do that with her?

I think that she would maybe look at

that and think, she's probably doing this because

of my size, and that's the last thing

I want.

My goal as I enter in the shoot

is to shoot a bride the same way

I would shoot any other bride, and we're

going to be incorporating things like zooming tonalities,

but at the same time, she knows her

size and she embraces it.

One of the reasons I'm excited to work

with Ashley is because she's confident, she's curvy,

and she's a lot of fun, and I'm

going to talk to you a few things

about what I do and how I do

it.

So here we go.

We have some broken light behind us, some

beautiful backlit, but it's being diffused through the

branches of the trees, which is going to

be fantastic.

I'm not going to expect anything from my

clients to begin with because this is first

and foremost how I want to see how

their bodies interact with each other and the

lines that I can see between two formations.

I'm going to be focusing on putting them

in a shaded area so that I can

have this beautiful backlight, but I'm also going

to be putting a natural reflector in front

of them because if I was shooting without

the natural reflector, light illuminating a ground in

front of them.

Here we're looking with a brown tan color,

which is going to be great because it's

going to offset the green tonalities in this,

and I'm going to leverage that to the

best of my ability.

In this particular case, Matt and Ashley are

beautiful models for today.

I mean, they're just looking fabulous, are going

to be working together, and the best part

of it is that they are roughly the

same height, which is going to give me

a lot of flexibility to shoot wide open,

which is absolutely one of my favorite things

to do.

So Ashley, now one thing that I'm going

to take into consideration is behind Ashley, we

have kind of just like a hikers, kind

of like chair overhang thing, and I don't

want that to be in my frame.

So I'm going to position Ashley so that

I can shoot at an angle that I

can crop it before post.

So I'm thinking about these things in advance.

So I'm going to probably be shooting in

this direction.

So Ashley, can you square your shoulders towards

me?

Beautiful.

And I'm going to bring you down.

Now, one thing I want to notice is

that it's kind of it's curved.

Where we're working at is curved.

And because Ashley and Matt are about the

same size, I don't want the same height.

I don't want to put her at an

elevation, which would make her taller than Matt.

So I'm going to have you come down

this way, right there.

Perfect.

And so I'm seeing this nice, beautiful light

behind her hair, which is exactly what I

want.

She has this beautiful color hair.

You're going to square your shoulders towards me,

and then Matt, you're going to come in,

and you are going to put your chest

towards Ashley.

So come in this way.

So I'm going to be shooting your profiles.

So come in nice and close.

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.

I'm going to have you relax your dress.

Awesome.

Now, Matt, can I have your hands here?

Beautiful.

You're going to come in nice and close.

Beautiful.

And then, Ashley, can you spread your feet

out a little tiny bit?

Beautiful.

Now what I want you to do is

to put your weight distinctly into one hip

or the other.

Exactly.

Matt, you're going to bring your body nice

and close.

Beautiful.

And then, Ashley, you are going to have

your hands here, and you can relax.

And I'm going to adjust this in a

sec.

I'm going to get my camera.

Ash, can I have you – I'm already

abbreviating your name.

I'm like, we're tight like that.

Can you open your legs a tiny bit,

a tiny bit, and then give me that

same kind of – I think – here

we go.

I want to pull – yeah, there we

go.

There we go.

That's beautiful.

Now, Matt, can you come in nice and

close?

Bring your body in nice and close.

There we go.

Beautiful.

And let's see.

Ashley, can I see your elbow on the

inside of Matt's arm?

Yes.

Beautiful.

Nice, nice, nice.

And then, Matt, don't feel the pressure to

bring your arms all the way around.

Just kind of relax your arms a tiny

bit.

There.

That's beautiful.

That's beautiful.

I'm going to get my light right.

I'm going to be at ISO 200.

I'm going to shoot – right now, I

just want them looking at each other.

I'm going to get my light, see where

I'm going to be.

Yeah, this is exactly where I want to

be.

I'm at 2.2640th of a second, 200

ISO.

Beautiful.

Can you guys look towards the 133?

Beautiful.

Can you guys bring your faces in together

just a little bit?

Beautiful.

Heck, yeah.

Good.

Good, good, good, good, good.

We're starting off really, really, really strong.

Nice.

Now, what I want to do is I

want to have a slight change of the

formation of the arm.

So, Matt, relax your left arm all the

way down.

Nice.

And then, Ashley, can you put your hand

– yes.

Beautiful.

No.

Thumb up.

Yep, exactly like that.

So, the reason I'm having – Ashley, can

you put your arm down?

Beautiful.

So, this is Ashley's beautiful, gorgeous figure.

But what I'm going to do is I'm

going to create – I'm going to use

her hand to create a nice, natural cinching

area for her waist because I'm going to

highlight everything good that she has.

And by doing that, too, what's going to

happen is naturally – I have your arm

out.

Just relax it.

I have this.

We have a beautiful figure.

Now, I'm going to put this in.

Put your hand here.

Relax.

And now I've opened up her arm.

I'm giving her a natural cinch.

And then I'm going to have Matt's hands

either – I'm going to adjust to have

them either in his pocket or on her

waist.

I'm going to choose to see what looks

best in a second.

So, Matt, can I have your hand in

your pocket?

Excuse me, in your pant pocket.

Nice.

And what I'm going to do is I'm

going to make a slight adjustment to the

jacket so I can see a little bit

more of the – good.

And then, Matt, I might have you turn

open towards me.

I have you guys in, like, Bugville.

I know.

Matt, you're just playing it off really well.

It's great.

I like the hairspray.

Oh.

Good.

Now, Matt, can you open up your left

shoulder towards me a little bit more?

Eyes here.

Nice.

And then, Ashley, you're going to be looking

at Matt.

Beautiful.

Beautiful.

What I'm going to do now is have

Matt on the incline.

I'm going to give Matt a little bit

more just natural height.

The reason why I shot them this way

is because Ashley's hair opened up and I

got to see the beautiful curvature of her

body and face.

But now I'm going to just flip it

so that I can get the back of

her dress.

We're going to show a few things.

So, Matt, I'm going to get you here

on this incline.

You're going to be right about here.

Kind of stand right there.

Nice.

Uh-huh.

Beautiful.

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.

Can you come up this way?

Nice.

Beautiful.

Hang up.

Good.

And then, Matt, can you kind of distribute

the weight unevenly in one leg or the

other?

Exactly.

Awesome.

And then if you can have the hand

in your pocket to be the front hand.

Good.

Beautiful.

And so I'm not going to have Ashley

facing me with squared shoulders.

Anytime I can highlight a girl's figure, one

thing I want to take a quick second

to talk about would be the idea of

creating a thunderbolt with a female figure.

I do this for a bride of any

size.

I'm going to position her shoulders not directly

at me but at a slight angle.

Then I'm going to have her rest her

posture into one hip or the other.

By doing that, it's going to create a

natural curvature within the abdomen.

Then I'm going to have her rest within

her hips.

I'm going to have her choose her favorite

hip.

And I'm going to make sure that she's

not falling forward with it like this or

even like this.

I'm going to have her bring everything in

and back.

So in through the booty, back, head out,

chin down, and then she's just going to

be shifting her shoulders a little bit, a

little bit, and I'll be changing the posture

from here to there.

Ashley, you heard what I was going to

say, so you know what's going to come

next.

So I want you to feel okay with

the bouquet to have it in any way,

shape, or form.

If you even want to flip the bouquet

in the other hand, I'm going to kind

of just work with you a little bit

to see what's going to work the best.

I'm going to put my aperture at a

f2.8. I'm going to compensate down to

a 400th of a second because we are

quickly losing light because we're in a canyon.

This is really good.

Matt, bring your left shoulder towards me a

little bit.

There we go.

Nice.

Good.

So, Ash, I'm just going to have you

just kind of work from side to side.

So I want a beautiful, beautiful.

Bring that left hand to your hip.

Yeah.

Bring that shoulder back to me a tiny

bit.

And there's, cool.

Beautiful.

Beautiful.

Gorgeous.

I want you to bring the core in,

booty back.

There you go.

Gorgeous.

So what I'm, I don't, I want to

make sure that I take a point, and

Ashley knows that I'm using this exclusively for

educational purposes.

I want to make sure that I never

say, suck your belly in.

I want her to say, bring the core

in.

Because all of a sudden it changes the

dimension.

I'm not saying that she has a belly.

I'm just having her bring everything in.

And the minute I said that, she implicitly

understood, brought everything in, booty back, and brought

it forward, which is exactly what I wanted.

Take a deep breath.

Relax this right arm.

Girl.

Beautiful.

Beautiful.

Now I'm going to get something a little

bit.

Matt, can you get your feet underneath?

Right, right, right.

You're going to come up.

Actually, come back up.

I'm going to bring Ashley to you.

Good.

Now, quick, quick, quick.

That's beautiful.

Quick, small thing.

I initially had Matt come to Ashley, but

by Matt coming to Ashley, I lost his

height advantage.

So instead of Matt coming to Ashley, I

backed Ashley up into Matt.

So he still has the height, and I

have him come down around.

Ashley, you're going to bring your torso to

her back.

Ashley, you can have your hands here, okay?

Beautiful.

Now what I'm going to do is I'm

going to try out a few things.

Matt, can I have your hand here?

Rad.

So I'm going to have Matt's hand there,

because I want Ashley to feel 100%

comfortable, and most brides of any shape feel

the most self-conscious about their arms.

Anything that I can do to get Matt

nice and close to Ashley, bring their hand

nice and close, that makes it look and

feel natural and have that wedding day connection

is going to be the thing that I'm

going to do.

This is where I want your hand ultimately

to end, but we're not going to start

there.

Just have your hand relax.

Beautiful.

And then what you're going to do is,

Ash, bring this a little bit towards me.

Good.

And then just kind of just, there we

go.

So I'm going to tell him where I

want him to end, and then I'm going

to peel back and have him repeat it.

So I'm losing a little tiny bit, so

I'm going to switch to 3 20th of

a second.

So I'm going to count you down, and

so I don't want you guys to be

aware of me.

This is just going to be a moment

just for the two of you guys.

Matt, your hand's going to go to her

arm, and then with your left hand you're

going to put it around her waist and

then bring her in nice and close, like

a nice big cuddle.

We're going to try it, and then we

can amend it from there if I feel

like it's not going to be exactly what

I want.

So let me count you down.

Great.

I'm at 2 50th of a second.

I need a modification.

And then we have there.

Okay.

Here we go.

In 3, 2, and 1.

Nice.

Beautiful, beautiful.

Great.

That's exactly what I want.

This time, Matt, for your fingers, instead of

having a palm, I want you to kind

of bring your fingers in a little bit

closer, and then with your left hand I

want you to guide your beautiful, beautiful bride

to be in.

Good.

Beautiful.

Great.

I'm going to pause.

I'm going to switch the position of my

camera, but everything you guys are doing is

right.

And then this time I kind of just

want you to tilt your face, Matt, in

a little bit more towards Ash.

I'm going to switch my aperture because I

can.

They're not going to be looking at me

until 1.2. I want more bokeh in

the background, but I need to compensate for

light.

I'm shooting at a 1.2. Testing the

light to be at 640.

I'm going to change it to 800th of

a second.

Good.

1.2, 800th of a second, 200 ISO.

Great.

I'm going to have you guys bring it

in in 3, 2, and 1.

Beautiful.

Great.

Let's move, and I'm just going to follow

the light.

Anytime that I'm losing light as quickly as

I am right now, I'm going to find

the best light because good light makes anybody

look good all the time.

We're going to walk this way, guys.

I'll take your dress.

Okay.

As we're walking to this next location, I'm

going to actually shoot a bridal portrait of

Ashley.

Ashley, I'm going to have you pause here.

I actually just like what's going on a

lot, and so I'm going to use this

background.

Since I'm shooting in the canyon, the sun

has fallen behind the canyon, which means I'm

not going to get a sunset proper, but

I still will get golden illumination, which is

fine.

Because I don't have really strong natural reflectors,

I'm just going to try to find the

light that I think that she looks the

best in.

Because I stayed within this area, I have

to understand that behind I still have a

hiker's information center.

I want to crop that out.

I want to adjust here and make sure

that it's balanced.

I'm going to shoot a proper, just very

traditional bridal portrait.

What I'm going to do first is because

she has a really— I'm going to shoot

her facing me, and then I'm going to

have her face the mountain so that I

can actually get her turning over her shoulder.

Anytime you can get a bride to twist

within their abdomen and put the weight somewhere

else, it's going to give them a very

nice hourglass figure.

Now, Ashley, if you want to do anything,

if you want to try anything, if you

want to give me a pose that you

feel like the strongest in, you do that.

I might have ideas, but I'm totally willing

to work with you.

I'm going to start you off right here.

I'm going to be shooting this at ISO

200.

I am at 1.2. I will try

to shoot all my bridal portraits when possible,

if possible, at a 1.2 because everybody

looks great at a 1.2. We have

some beautiful bokeh.

We have this gorgeous light.

Great.

You look phenomenal.

You look so beautiful.

As I'm talking to you, I want you

to give me a variation of looks and

faces.

A full smile, a half smile, smiling with

your eyes.

I'll let you know.

I'll be talking to you through every step

of the way, but so far we're just

doing phenomenal.

Why don't you take a deep breath, look

out towards the 133.

Beautiful.

Chin down.

Gorgeous.

Good Lord, woman.

I mean, you've got to make my job

a little harder.

Good.

Beautiful.

Beautiful.

So I'm doing a full body, and then

I'm making sure that I'm going to be

talking to my bride because what just happened

here is exactly what happens naturally on a

wedding day.

I'm talking to her so I have that

kind of beautiful, regal, fierce look.

Then I talk to her and I get

her to laugh.

A bride of any shape, of any size,

that's exactly what I want to do.

I want to make them comfortable.

I want to make them look like they're

having fun and feeling good.

I did a full body vertical.

I'm going to step in to do a

half body vertical.

I might have to adjust my light ever

so slightly.

I'm going to be at 1.2 1600s

of a second, 200 ISO.

My focal point will be, as I am

facing the bride, my focal point will be

on her right eye because her left eye

is covered by her bang.

Beautiful.

Beautiful.

Now I want you to shift the weight

in your legs, kind of give me a

little shimmy.

Atta girl.

So that's exactly what that's.

Boom.

You just hang out there.

Beautiful.

Look down at the bouquet.

Take a deep breath.

Good.

Actually, do what you are about to do

because that was beautiful.

Slight smile.

Beautiful.

Eyes down at the bouquet.

Good.

Pause here.

So what happened with Ashley, which was really

cool, is that she just fell into it.

She already had this great posture, but then

she took the liberty to actually fall deeper

into it.

Anytime a bride is feeling confident enough to

actually come this way, what we're going to

do is we're going to have a slimming

down effect to that.

The deeper a person pulls back, the more

that their chest is going to come forward.

The more their chest comes forward, the more

the booty goes back, the more we get

a curve throughout the hip area.

So now what I've done, I've done a

vertical portrait.

I've done a full body.

I'm now doing a vertical half body.

I'm going to switch it.

I'm going to do a horizontal.

My settings are not going to change.

We're going to have that bouquet drop a

tiny, tiny, tiny bit.

Can I have your eyes down?

Beautiful.

Now I'm going to focus and kind of

tilt my camera a little tiny bit down,

which would still be a standard traditional portrait

for me, but give it a slightly advantageous

angle.

Gorgeous.

Look out towards the 133.

Oh, actually, boo, you can bring your eyes

right here to me.

Wow.

I'm saying beautiful and good at the same

time, and it came out goo.

I mean, really?

Wow.

Beautiful.

Great.

I have a vertical full, a vertical half,

a horizontal half.

I'm going to have you face this mountain,

or, I mean, it's a mountain if you're

in California.

Anywhere else, people would be like, that ain't

a mountain.

Now what I want you to do is

to face this way all the way, and

what I'm going to do now is I'm

going to have, Ashley, square your shoulders, I

mean, your hips this way.

Hips, boom.

Now I've spread out her wedding dress.

I don't like perfect wedding dresses, but as

she twists, it's going to take on a

life of its own.

I'm going to stand, Ashley, can you take

two big steps to the right?

Actually, a little bit more.

And why I'm actually having her do this

is because I have signs in the background.

Move a little bit over to the right.

Right there.

A little bit more.

Good.

Right there.

I have signs in the background, and then

I have a post.

If I can use her body to cover

the post, it'll kind of not be as

much of a distraction.

So, Ashley, I want you, your body's here,

I want you to turn back with your

bouquet like this.

Yes, but put it, actually keep it there.

That's beautiful.

But I want you to fall more into,

more into your turning.

Exactly.

And then as you come, as you come,

I want you to, exactly, peel that shoulder

on back a little bit more, and then

you're going to turn this way with your

hip.

Atta girl.

Good.

So that's where I want you to end.

Now, the learning point from this is Ashley,

turn this way, which is beautiful and great,

but the more she turns, the more she

arcs her body, the more we're going to

get that nice curvature.

I'm going to pop you back.

Good.

Ash, I'm right behind you.

Why don't you turn on back towards me

in 3, 2, 1.

Good.

Beautiful.

Now, this time what I want you to

do is I want you to bring your

left shoulder even more out towards me.

I want you to flip this way, look

forward, and then next time I want you

to even bring that left shoulder a lot,

lot more towards me, and then put that

weight in one hip or the other, whatever

you darn well choose.

3, 2, 1.

Beautiful.

Gorgeous.

Now, this time what I want you to

do is I want you to turn around

and give me a look like somebody had

just called you, like, oh, hey, me.

Beautiful.

So I don't want it to be too

couture.

I want it to be girl next door.

I want to be girl on her wedding

day.

3, 2, 1.

Turn around.

Good, good, good, good.

Good.

Now, this time what I want you to

do is instead of bringing your bouquet here,

I want it to be a little bit

lower.

Why am I having her bring it lower?

Is, one, we have this beautiful sweetheart neck,

which accentuates good things for her.

I don't want to hide it, right?

And what it's doing is it's competing too

much with her face.

If I have her bring her bouquet through

her abdomen, we're going to be showing her

best attributes, her eyes, her smile, and let's

be real, her God-givens, right?

So we go, boom, here.

That's what we're thinking.

And 3, 2, and 1.

Turn around.

Atta girl.

Beautiful.

That's what I want you to do.

Now, this time I want you to relax

your right shoulder.

Look forward in 3, 2, and 1.

Good.

That was it.

Good job.

So stinking beautiful.

Good.

Matt, can I borrow you?

I mean, I know.

She's just looking good.

He's back there smiling like so, like beaming,

beaming.

I'm going to keep your back slightly this

way.

Just shift your shoulders a little bit more

towards me.

Beautiful.

And I'm going to stick Matt right here.

What I'm going to do now is I'm

going to focus on shooting smaller details of

the couple to tell a bigger story.

So I'm going to bring my couple in

nice and close, and I'm going to intentionally

be cropping out certain aspects of the frame.

I have talked about this before, but it's

a great way, any time you can shoot

close to a subject, it's a great way

to kind of convey a romantic photo without

doing traditionally romantic things like, say, a kiss.

So I think in this particular case, I'm

going to take this from you, I'm going

to be shooting with the 85.

I think the 85 has this beautiful, beautiful

compression.

There's no distortion.

I could stand at a distance.

I'm going to shoot this at 1.2

because I'm going to be focusing on details

itself.

Matt, if you can lift up the front

of Ashley's dress, get your feet underneath.

It is a photo shoot, but they look

good.

You guys are appealing to strangers.

Now, I want all of these photos to

just be candid.

I want you guys to be relaxed.

Bring your bodies in gorgeous.

Now, Ash, turn out this way towards me.

Matt, you come in towards Ashley.

You're going to turn your body in.

There you go.

Oh, Ash, you're good.

Okay.

Now, piece of instructional.

Come back to where you were.

Now, what I'm getting from a photographer's perspective

is arm and back, which is fine, but

I'm going to open Ashley up.

Boom.

I'm going to give her more of a

curve.

I'm going to roll her shoulder open, and

then Matt's going to come into her.

So anytime I can make a slight adjustment,

open her up, and then give her more

of that curve again is exactly what I'm

going to do.

So this is where I want you to

end up.

Just relax.

Take a deep breath.

Come back to however you were.

I'm going to call you into that.

My settings right now, I'm going to do

a test shot.

I'm at 1.2. I am at 1

,600th of a second.

I'm at 200 ISO.

I'm going to have you guys come in

nice and close to each other.

Beautiful, beautiful.

Ash, can you relax your left arm?

Yes, there.

Bring your fingers nice and close together.

Nice.

I'm going to stand in a little bit

closer, and I will have to compensate by

way of shutter speed.

I'm at 1.2. Oh, darling, 1,000th

of a second, 200 ISO.

Beautiful.

Ash, can you look out this way?

Beautiful.

Now, with your chin, not just your eye.

Now, one thing I want to point is

that Ashley just looked out, and I got

too much of the white of the eyes,

so I want to use her chin as

a point of focal so that I don't

get too much white, so everything's going to

follow.

Follow.

Follow, yes.

Follow.

Beautiful.

Look out, Ash.

Beautiful.

Can you look out towards the cinematographer right

over there?

Gorgeous.

Now, let's see.

Matt, can you come in and lightly kiss

Ashley's cheek wherever your lips land?

Good, good, good.

That's really, really pretty.

Good.

Can you look, just kind of just relax,

turn in towards Matt.

And then what I want you to do

is I'm still getting this really nice natural

glow from behind Ashley that I like.

I'm going to compensate through, like, going down

to 800th of a second.

Ash, can you look out towards me?

Good.

Let me try something.

Let me just see what happens here.

Okay, so what I just did by simple

moving of her hair is I saw a

lot of a white dress, a lot of

her skin.

By bringing in this really cool color, this

could be brunette, it could be black, it

could even be, like, a dusty blonde.

I'm simply breaking up a lot of what

I'm seeing here.

I'm going to reframe by using her hair,

kind of shape it in a tiny bit.

And my frame is now existing here.

It's going to tell a very private, intimate

story.

Beautiful.

Beautiful.

Gorgeous.

Look out towards the videographer with the chin.

At it, girl.

And then you're going to be looking at

Ashley.

Bring her in for a nice, tight squeeze.

Nice, good.

Beautiful.

Good.

Awesome.

So now what I'm going to do, as

I'm going to be shooting from this angle,

I'm going to make it a very clear

intention not to actually open up this entire

side of the frame, because my goal always

is to have it shoot complimentary.

I don't want to show too much of

it.

So my shot will then be composed halfway

through her arm.

It's going to get her profile, and it's

going to be more focused on Matt.

But the reason why I'm intentionally cutting off

a portion of her arm is because we're

just going to tell a tighter story, and

we're going to make our bride look and

feel confident with every aspect.

Now, what I'm going to do now with

her hair is, since I'm shooting with this

angle, this hair is going to be a

distraction.

I'm going to pull her hair back.

I'm going to do this nice, long, beautiful

neck.

I'm going to get her earrings.

I'm going to get these small details, and

I'm going to be focusing.

Yes, beautiful.

I'm going to pull.

What I noticed is as I was shooting

this way, there was a slight pucker of

her dress here.

I'm going to pull it down here.

And, yes, I do this on a wedding

day.

Beautiful.

And then, Matt, you're going to be looking

at your gorgeous, beautiful bride.

And then, Matt, can you look out towards

that area?

And then how about something a little bit

closer?

Yep, there it is.

There it is.

Hang out one second.

And then, Matt, can you look at Ashley?

And then, Matt, can you look here?

Slight smile.

There you go.

Thank you.

That was great.

Good.

So the frame became here, and then the

frame became here.

These are all intentional decisions to make my

bride look the most complimentary and flattering.

Oh, one thing.

I'm going to get the 35.

Shady, can I get the 35?

And, Matt, can I have you here?

Good.

All right.

Ashley approves.

So, Matt, I'm going to have you here,

and you're just going to kind of lean,

but I don't want you leaning down so

that we lose height.

I just want you to lean so you're

comfortable.

Then what I'm going to do, the intention,

I'm going to talk to the camera now,

the intention is what I want Ashley to

lean into Matt.

They're going to be nice and close.

He's going to have his hands here.

He might rest one hand or the other

on her body, which anytime you can compress

two bodies without smushing the bodies, you're going

to get two smaller forms, which is going

to be specifically within the kind of hourglass

curve area.

So, Matt, I'll have you here.

Now, again, I'm going to be focusing on

two main things.

I don't want to shoot directly onto my

subjects.

I want to slightly shift.

Come up this way, Matt.

Good.

And, actually, maybe we'll have this hand up

here.

Yep.

And then switch a little bit more, Ashley.

Good.

Cool.

And the reason why I'm doing it, I'm

going to open up her body again.

We're going to get a nice complimentary figure.

And what I'm going to do is I'm

going to use, hopefully, this fence as a

leading line to what I want to shoot.

I'm going to be shooting this.

I'm going to be shooting this at a

1.4 because I'm not going to have

my subjects both be looking at me at

the same time.

I will either just have the bride, just

have the groom, or they will be looking

at each other.

In the case that they're looking at each

other and they're both the same height, their

eyes will be at the same level.

Again, focus on that focal plane.

I'm going to get beautiful bokeh with this

light in the background and a lot of

distortion.

So the focus will be on the person

who I want it to be at any

given time.

Nice.

Good.

I want you to relax.

I want you to take a deep breath.

Nice.

Ashley, I want you looking up at Matt.

And then, Matt, eyes here.

Cool.

Looking back at Ash.

Good.

Ash, beautiful.

Beautiful.

I'm going to step in.

Beautiful.

So one thing that I'm focusing on is

I'm making sure and Ashley's doing a great

job at this naturally is that she's rolling

that shoulder open.

Any time she rolls that shoulder open, it

naturally comes into one hip.

Weight comes in more into one hip.

And then it kind of brings her abdomen

in nice and close, nice and close to

Matt.

Now, you're going to see that I'm inching

a little closer, a little closer, and a

little closer.

I'm going to see if it's at any

possible way for me to kind of get

up on things that are around because I

am a shorter girl.

I'm going to get up and then shoot

down on my subjects.

The reason why I'm going to shoot down

is because it's a complimentary angle.

This definitely works.

But this is something that I would do

and do with all of my clients.

As we progress through the 30-day course,

you're going to see that I will stand

on anything around me to give me any

sort of height leverage, which I'm going to

do now.

I'm going to hope that I don't fall.

Good.

Turn now.

Now, I'm going to reposition Ashley.

Now that my angle is up, I don't

want her turning her body in too open

because it's going to make her look wider.

Turn it in towards Matt.

Gorgeous.

Gorgeous.

Now, what I'm going to do from time

to time is I love the way her

hand is positioned there on his chest, but

I might have her move her arm slightly.

I'll be calling for it.

Move her hand slightly from his chest out

maybe to his arm.

By her moving out to her arm, it's

changing the shape of this arm.

I want to give my bride both options.

That was beautiful.

We're going to start with your hand here,

one, two, and three.

Exactly what you did.

Then I'm going to give her three.

I'm going to give myself three options, and

I'm going to choose the most complimentary.

Hang on for one sec.

Let me get my lighting right.

Good.

I'm shooting at a 1.4. Ashley, take

one step towards me.

There we go.

Now, I'm having Ash taking that one step

for me, closer to me, so that they

can be on that same focal plane.

When I'm shooting at a 1.4, I

need to be very conscious of these things.

Beautiful.

Heck, yes.

We're going to just kind of work through

there.

Ashley, this is beautiful.

Eyes here at me.

Beautiful.

Eyes a bit, Matt.

Good.

Switch the hand.

Atta girl.

Beautiful.

Then, Ash, can you have your eyes down

here?

Take a deep breath.

Just relax that front right shoulder.

Then, Matt, can I have your left arm

around her waist?

Beautiful.

Beautiful.

Eyes here.

Good.

Eyes down here.

Then, Matt, can you lean in and give

Ash a kiss wherever your lips land?

Good.

Now, this time, I want you to do

it a slightly bit softer so that she

doesn't blink out her eye.

Good.

Good, good.

Pause for a sec.

When my clients will laugh, I will shoot

a whole bunch through it.

What I see a lot of photographers do

is when they see their subjects laughing, they'll

be like, oh, ha, ha, ha.

They put their camera down.

Instead of getting that nice, natural laugh, anytime

I intentionally do that, I said, oh, Matt,

you don't want to kiss her so that

you're going to poke her eye out.

They start laughing, and I knew that that

was coming.

Instead of having a lot of really harsh,

coquettish, beautiful angles, I'm going to get something

that's really natural.

Anytime you can make a bride of any

shape or any size look natural, she's having

fun, she's going to love the pictures as

a result.

Now that we got the fun photo out

of the way, you're going to kiss Ash

a little bit softer this time.

Keep it nice and light.

Beautiful.

Eyes down, Ash.

There we go.

Lips a little closer together.

Good.

This is beautiful.

We're walking now to a spot probably 10,

15 feet from where we originally were, but

I'm going to change the position of our

location so that I can avoid things that

are in the background, like a hiking station

or a doggy poop bag station.

This area right here is really pretty.

I'm going to set up a natural type

of area for them to walk naturally towards

me, effortlessly towards me.

At the same time, what I want to

do is I want to create movement because

brides are attracted to my work because it

looks and feels two main things, natural and

fun.

I want to make sure that a bride

feels as great as she possibly can, but

at the same time is looking in a

way that's both complimentary and true to herself.

Most of my brides of curvy nature know

exactly what they look like.

They just want to look like a better

version of themselves, and Ashley is a perfect

depiction of that.

She embraces everything.

We're going to pause here.

She embraces herself, and she's going to have

fun along the way.

What I'm noticing is I have some light

in the background.

I also have sunset in front of me.

I'm going to have them walk towards sunset,

even though I don't have sunset because it's

falling behind the canyon, but this nice dewy

light is going to look great on my

subjects.

Again, good light makes everybody look great.

Ashley will be here.

Matt will be here.

Then we're going to start the process of

simply walking.

A couple seconds ago, I said I was

going to have my subjects walking in that

direction.

I stepped on the other side, and I

took a picture, and I realized that light's

not what I want, specifically because the light

is bisecting the ridge behind me.

Again, there was a broken light source, and

so your eyes are going to go to

the illuminated portion of the picture, which I

don't want.

I really just want nice, soft light on

everybody.

So I simply flip them.

The ridge is behind them, which is sunset

where it was originally, but we're still getting

that nice, dewy sunset light.

I'm going to have Matt, again, very much

like how we started this.

There's a slight little dip in it.

I'm putting Matt on the slight elevation, which

will give him a little bit more height,

and I'm going to bring Ashley's body into

Matt.

The thing that I notice that she's doing

right, that she just understands, is that she's

going to be putting her left leg just

outside of Matt's leg, which is going to

bring her body even closer to Matt, therefore

kind of giving her curvy figure even that

much more of a beautiful, curvy figure.

I'm just loving what she's doing.

I'm loving this just naturally.

Beautiful.

Eyes at each other.

Hang on.

Let me fix my settings.

I'm at 2.5. This is pretty.

2.5, 500th of a second, 200 ISO.

I understand that there are going to be

bikers that are going to be coming in.

Bring your foreheads in nice and close.

Good.

Good.

Now what I want you to do is

you're going to turn towards me, shoulder to

shoulder, holding hands.

Nice.

And all you're going to do is you're

going to walk towards me, but I understand

that this path is really small, so Matt,

you might have to walk down the incline.

You're just going to make it look as

natural as possible.

You're not going to be paying attention to

me whatsoever.

The thing that I want, Ashley, to make

sure that you're going to do is to

put one foot in front of the other.

Very slow.

Take your time.

The path isn't even.

Part of the reason why I'm having Ashley

put her feet in front of each other

is that every time a female walks with

her feet in front of each other, it's

going to give her more of a tick

in her hips.

I love that.

And I want to be very conscious of

her form and figure as she's walking to

me that we're still keeping that shape that

I really, really find so beautiful.

So I understand that there are signs behind

her.

I'm going to shift over to cut out

one of the signs.

I might keep – another one has to

stay in the background, but I will be

able to fix that later in post.

We're going to start with our left foot

forward, and the cadence will be 3, 2,

1, 3.

And I'm going to be walking with my

subjects at the same cadence so I can

track and keep the same distance between us

so I can focus in between each shot

and ensure that each shot is in focus

as they're walking toward me.

In 3, 2, and 1.

Looking at each other.

Good.

Good.

Good.

Good, Ash.

Looking up at Matt.

Beautiful.

Uh-oh.

Uh-oh.

Yeah, we're good.

We're good.

Good.

Now what I'm going to do is I'm

not going to have my subjects change too

much of position except I'm going to flip

Ashley this way.

I'm going to step into this grassy area

once I adjust Ashley.

I'm going to turn Ashley towards me this

way.

I mean, Ashley's going to turn towards the

ridge that way.

I'm going to be shooting them this way,

but there's a slight inclination, and that's where

I'm going to have Matt.

Matt, you're going to turn back this way.

You're going to scoot back a little bit

right there, and you're going to be looking

that way.

Good.

This way.

And then, Matt, you're going to be here.

Beautiful.

You're going to get in nice, nice, nice

and close.

Gorgeous.

What I want to make sure that I'm

doing is I want to put my bride

and groom within an environmental element that's going

to play into the story of their love,

their day, and in this particular idea, just

the two of them hanging out in a

beautiful field on their wedding day enjoying their

time.

I'm going to shoot this with the 50

first and incorporate things in the background to

make it part of their story.

Ryan, can I have you take one step

this way?

Sorry.

Beautiful.

Beautiful.

Relax that front shoulder.

Roll that left shoulder out.

Boom.

Gorgeous.

Gorgeous.

Always just making sure of those tiny little

tweaks in her body, in her form.

Beautiful.

Looking at Matt.

I'm going to be shooting now with the

35mm.

I shot with the 50, and then theoretically

I could take a few steps back to

get more of a wider photo, but the

35mm lens is the lens that is truest

to what the eye naturally sees, so from

periphery to periphery, and that's exactly what I

want to do right about now.

I want to put my subjects and my

clients in a nice, beautiful area that they

feel really good in.

Gorgeous.

Making it nice and wide, making the environment

a part of this photo.

Great.

Cool.

What I'm going to see if Ashley is

willing to do is climb up to this

rock.

I'm going to have her sit, and I'm

going to talk about how I would position

a bride to be in this position to

make it the most complimentary in nature.

I'm going to hop right here.

I want your bum here on this corner.

Okay.

Here.

Let's grab that.

Do you want it to be fanned out?

I think I might.

Let's have you just cut down first.

See if you can scoot your bum to

the very, very tip because I love your

beautiful.

To the edge?

Yeah.

Matt, I'm going to have you here.

Have your hand in your pocket just right

about there.

Thanks, guys.

I'm changing what I thought I wanted to

do because it just wasn't working.

It wasn't complimentary.

I'm just going to cut my losses and

not fight for it, but I have them

in this beautiful area that I still want

to keep.

I'm going to give Matt the inclination on

this point.

I'm going to have Ashley step two, three

steps this way.

Good.

Matt, I'm going to take you here.

You're going to turn in towards Ashley.

Turn in towards Matt.

Beautiful.

Good.

Then because I'm up here right now, I'm

going to still keep you in this formation.

I'm going to have you guys together.

Then, Matt, I'm going to pull you back

right over here, and you're going to have

your hand right about there.

I'm going to put first pose, second pose.

Instead of yelling from a distance, that's going

to be the idea.

I don't want you moving too much.

What just happened now is I stopped a

particular pose because it just wasn't working.

What I want to do is any time

that I could put distance between me and

the subjects, putting them into the environment, it's

going to be less focused on, say, physical

form and the physical form within the overall

environment of the photo.

I'm going to have a couple look at

me or just look at each other.

Beautiful.

Matt, can you turn your body in a

little bit more towards Ashley?

Come down a tiny bit toward me.

Ash, roll that.

Yeah, Ashley, your angle is beautiful.

Ashley popped her hip back.

She came in, pulled the core in.

Matt, step in towards Ash.

There you go.

Beautiful.

Looking at each other.

Right now, I'm at 2.8400th of a

second.

The sky is gone.

This is what I'm getting for not having

a true sunset.

Foreheads together.

Beautiful.

Good.

Matt, can I have you flip to position

number two?

Cool.

And while you're getting there, yeah, that's great.

One thing I'm going to focus on right

now specifically with Ashley is I'm going to

make sure that I can see the tip

of both shoulders because the minute I can

see the tip of both shoulders, good, good,

is the minute that I'm going to get

that nice, beautiful curve within her waist.

Ashley naturally put her hand on her waist,

which is something I love.

Again, we're going back to that natural corseted

feel of bringing in her hips, her waist,

and her shoulders.

But one thing I don't want is for

Ashley's shoulders to get locked, so I'm going

to have her pop one shoulder or the

other.

The minute she can do that, I'm going

to even get more of that thunderbolt.

So you got it.

You got it.

Beautiful.

Beautiful.

I'm going to be shooting this at a

3.2. My ISO is 200, and I'm

at 250th of a second.

Beautiful.

I'm going to switch over this way just

so that my subjects don't have to switch,

but I'm now going to be framing them

by a rock on the right side, a

rock on the left side, and then the

last frame will probably be them walking through

the field.

Here we go in three, beautiful.

Now, Ash, because I switched my body, I'm

going to have Ash turn a little bit

more towards me so I can see.

Beautiful.

Now, see if you can not lock.

I think you're locking one knee.

Good girl.

I can already see.

Good.

Thumb.

There we go.

Beautiful.

I'm going to have you guys.

Ash, do you feel comfortable walking down this?

Yeah, I just have to carry the front.

Absolutely.

Or, Matt, can you pick up the back

of her dress?

So what I'm going to do now is

Ashley is going to be coming down in

front of Matt, which is great, which is

what I want to do.

I'm having an inclination.

So I'm going to make the groom taller,

bigger in the frame.

If she's coming down toward me, I'm going

to be angling it slightly up so that

we're going to be getting this.

I'm going to be shooting this at a

1.4, and I'm not going to move.

They're going to walk through me, and my

goal is to get one frame that looks

candid, photojournalistic, nice, easy.

Walk straight here.

I will be talking to you guys through

that look.

Making sure, Ashley, you kind of keep that

light smile.

I know it's not perilous.

I'm sorry.

I'm making you work for it.

Beautiful.

Can you look back at Matt?

Beautiful.

Good.

We're good.

Thank you.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

So this is the end of the shoot.

As a quick wrap-up, three main points

to be focused on, and I'm going to

use Ashley in real-life modeling form because

she was so phenomenal.

She was so, so, so beautiful, naturally fell

into things, made it easy for me, but

also made it easier for viewers to actually

see how they can coach their brides into

this.

One thing to always be conscious of would

be the idea of a thunderbolt.

So Ashley's shoulders are here, going to shift

slightly towards me.

You're going to shift your hips.

Beautiful.

You're going to bring the bouquet in here.

We're going to have the bouquet around the

abdomen, not in competition with the God-givens.

We're just going to relax your shoulders.

We're going to peel it back.

Point number two would be to be very

conscious of shoulders.

We don't want to pull the bride's body

in or even turning it in this way.

Having more of this shown, there, see, she's

just making me look good.

I don't have to do too much.

Another point, Matt, I'm going to bring you

into the frame.

I'm going to turn Ashley in towards Matt.

And as Matt popped right in nice and

close, as Matt and Ashley are standing in

together, the closer they stand, the more complimentary

both figures look.

But specifically a female.

That's always going to be my main focus.

So the two of them coming in together,

bringing her that nice hourglass figure.

And then lastly, we're going to focus on

creating a natural corset.

I don't want to overuse this, but she

did it so wonderfully, where she distributed the

weight unevenly in her legs, popped the booty

out, the chest up, the shoulders back, and

then she brought her hand in.

I am more of a fan instead of

this, because we see this too much in

selfies.

We see this more in editorial work.

I'm saying this, hands on the hips.

But what I want to do is flip

the thumb out at a girl.

She just makes it look so much better

than I do.

Let's just be real.

So those are the tips I want you

to walk away from.

Thanks so much for joining us and shoot.

Thank you to our beautiful models.

I appreciate you guys very, very much.

Thank you.

You're one thing at a time.

I'm prone to run.

You keep me in the lines.

But I know we can take every stumble,

every sweat.

I swear on my life, I'm not walking

away.

Oh, you're my, oh, my

star.

And I want you to know.

Isn't Ashley a dream to work with?

I mean, somebody had even commented, like, her

hair looked good.

I mean, she just shined.

And I think that that's one of the

things that happened from the difference between the

start of the shoot and towards the end

of the shoot.

She just started having fun.

She started getting sassy, and she started blossoming

in front of my camera.

Now, just to kind of recap that I

modified each pose in each location by keeping

the following things in mind.

I'm going to angle the bride's shoulders away,

slightly away from the camera to avoid that

straight-on perspective.

So women of any shape and size look

better by simply shifting and turning.

We've created a natural angle in their abdomen.

Relax the shoulders.

Take a deep breath.

Bring them on down.

I want to pull the core or the

abdomen in, and by that, her body center

gets strong and her shoulders are pulled back.

I also want her to rest her booty

back, because oftentimes it's easy for brides to

kind of lean forward, because they, just natural

inclination.

You might want to step forward.

What I want to do, I want to

bring the ankles close.

I want the booty back.

Rest this back, and that brings up the

chest, brings out the chin.

Then what I want to do is to

distribute the weight into one leg or the

other.

And this is a constant reminder.

These are the five things I'm asking every

single bride, every location, for any shape or

size.

Now let's move into the homework.

What I want you to do is if

you have never worked with a curvy bride

before, I don't know if that's something you

really want to experiment with on a wedding

day.

So why not release all expectations and create

a fun shoot for you?

Ask a friend.

Go on Model Mayhem.

Look for a curvy girl.

Go to TJ Maxx.

Go to a thrift store.

Heck, have her wear a white dress and

put on a floral crown.

It doesn't matter.

What you want to do is start articulating

what you want to do after setting up

the shoot, and you want to practice how

you are speaking.

Not what you are saying, but the fluidity

in which you are offering positive feedback and

encouragement.

Now, what I want you to do is

to, lastly, find ways to accentuate her curves.

And the more you do it, the easier

it will come.

And once you realize that you can do

it with any bride of any size, you

approach every single shoot with confidence.

Thank you guys so much.

We're going to move into Q&A right

about now if you guys have any.

Any questions?

How do you respond to the question we

all get, like, are you going to Photoshop

my arms skinny?

Are you going to Photoshop your arms skinny?

Okay, let's role play because I can go

into theoretics, or I'm shooting you, and then

what do you tell me?

I don't like my arms.

You don't like your arms?

Oh, your arms are beautiful.

They look good.

Now, usually, so then I'll put my camera

down.

So the way that it usually works for

me is I'm going to find poses that

I feel make your arms look the most

complimentary.

I might and possibly can do Photoshop retouching

to the best of my ability, but if

it's something that you want, I can put

you in contact with a great retouching company,

and they can handle it for you, and

you'll just pay them directly.

Then you smile because I'm not paid to

be your retoucher.

I'm not paid to be your plastic surgeon.

You know what you look like.

I am not here to change you.

I'm here to document you.

And even though I know that I could

do it, it doesn't mean that I should.

My personal beliefs, people can rock however they

want after that.

Awesome.

Mike, thanks.

Another arm-related question.

So having the groom or the future groom,

you know, kind of rest his hand on

the bride's arm, I get a lot of

guys who, you know, if they're interacting, they're

kind of like squeezing their bride.

They're kind of cuddling with her, and so,

you know, it's not always flattering even when

their hand is on her arm.

So do you kind of step in then

and just kind of say, you know, gently

have your hand there and not making those

shapes?

And I try, and it's become an art

form of learning how to speak in affirmatives.

So I stay away from don't do this

or try not to do that.

I will say, oh, I love when you

just relax your hand.

So why don't you just go and reach

her, squeeze her nice, like squeeze her nice

and big.

Awesome.

Beautiful, beautiful.

Now take a deep breath, relax from her.

Now just kind of lean in nice and

softly.

So I basically said, I didn't like what

you did the first time around.

Let's peel it back.

But I spoke three times in affirmatives.

Thank you.

Yeah, of course.

So this situation is a little bit different

in the fact that I have a bride

who booked me a year ago.

And then two months after she booked me,

she found out she was pregnant.

So come next month, she will be seven

months pregnant.

So she doesn't want to hide the fact

that she is pregnant, but she doesn't want

to accentuate it.

So I'm wondering if you have any tips

for not accentuating curves.

Right.

I think that first and foremost, my knee

-jerk reaction is to send her a very

detailed email outlining expectations.

Be like, I'm so excited.

Being pregnant and starting a family is one

of the most beautiful things.

And you get to have your baby there

at your wedding.

Positive, positive, positive.

And then say, I just also want to

point out that due to the nature of

an ever-expanding belly, I want you to

understand that this is what it is.

I won't put you in poses that accentuate

your belly, but I also cannot be held

responsible to come up with poses that detract

from your belly.

I will make it a part of the

photo, and then I will also focus on

getting photographs both full body, but also half

body at a later point in time.

But I'm telling you, girls who get pregnant

around that seventh and eighth month, and maybe

this is just me from my experience, they

will be extra critical because they know that

their body is being inhabited by a wonderful

new alien, but they don't look by themselves,

you know?

So there's a good chance that she's going

to come back to you and say, I'm

not happy with the way that I looked.

But if you set the expectations and say,

this is what I am responsible for, then

at the end of it, you can say,

maybe let's arrange, I will offer a discounted

rate once the baby is born, and you

feel like you're going to get back in

pre-baby body shape, that you feel good,

we'll do another shoot, and I'll give you

a 40% discount.

Because then it works for you.

You get another opportunity to work with great

clients, then you make them happy, and you

get a very happy endorser.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Yes.

So two questions.

One, you were talking about distributing the weight

on your hips, and would you primarily do

that on the back hip?

Would be question number one.

I primarily, to answer this question, and then

we get into the next question, because there's

two, right?

Yeah.

I tell her to choose the hip of

her preference.

Even if it's forward towards you?

Even if it's towards you.

So if I'm standing, if you're Jasmine and

I'm the bride, I'm going to tell her

to distribute her weight here or here.

If she is standing to me here, I'll

say put the weight back into your right

foot.

And then with the arms, you said as

romantic poses go, you like to have them

in close, all the appendages.

But with a curvy girl, would you try

to get some angle and some negative space

in there, or do you still tend to

stick with the?

My poses are my poses for my brides.

I have shot curvy brides.

And I have shot curvy brides who are

extraordinarily self-conscious.

But after she saw the photos, and here's

the thing, I do keep my appendages close

as a preference.

But that's not to say that I don't

have my brides.

As you saw in that latter part of

the clip, as we tied it up, is

the thing that I want to stay away

from, from a personal aesthetic thing, is what

I used to do a lot in my

career was this.

And that's okay, but with the big advent

of Instagram, every girl in Vegas is like,

Vegas baby, I don't want to be a

Vegas baby photographer.

By simply switching out where the thumb goes

on the inside and then relaxing it back,

and instead of having it here, pulling it

back, that right there is a pose that

I would give a curvy bride, any bride.

So the things that I do are the

same things that I do for all my

brides.

But yes, I will offer close appendages as

well as a slight extension of appendages, but

that is for all shapes and sizes.

Awesome, I'm going to pass the mic over.

Do you have any tips for curvy grooms,

or if there's a better term for that,

but curvy grooms?

Yeah, curvy grooms I think is what, from

my experience, has been walking in, and most

of my curvy grooms assume that I don't

know how to work with curvy grooms.

So if you guys have seen a pattern,

my pattern is to manage expectations and over

-explain.

But here's the thing, by the time I

work with the curvy groom, I have engaged

with him at the engagement session.

So we've established a relationship of trust at

that point.

But let's function that we had not had

that experience, and I show up on the

wedding day, I would be like, let's give

him a name.

We'll give him Jonathan.

Jonathan, you look so handsome today.

You are looking sharp.

There are few men that will look as

good as you do right now.

That's the same thing I say to most,

not verbatim, but I always say, you look

so handsome, congratulations, and JD will be like,

hey, man, you're looking really good.

So that's where we start, and this is

the same conversation we had in the engagement

session.

I'm like, okay, so Jonathan, what I want

you to do is I don't want you

to think about me.

I don't want you to think about us.

I want you to look and feel like

Jonathan at a ballpark, at the grocery store,

but you happen to be wearing a really

nice tux.

I'll be making small modifications to what we're

doing, but I want you to look and

feel like you.

If you look and feel like you and

then I add my kind of just zhuzh,

my magicness, you're going to look really sharp.

So right now what I just need you

to do is I need you to turn

your shoulders away from me.

I need you to take a deep breath.

I need you to comb your jacket off

to the side, and what I want you

to do with both hands is maybe have

both hands in your pockets.

Secondly, I want you to have your back

hand away from your pocket.

I want you looking at me.

I want you looking off to the side.

Take a deep breath.

Roll your face on over to JD.

I'm talking him through this whole thing.

It's the pauses and the lapse of silence

in between that make people second guess.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Cool.

So on that note, I think that this

would be a great place to end this

particular section.

Thank you guys so, so, so much.

If there's one thing that I could say

to end the session is that every girl

is beautiful regardless of their shape, but my

goal as a photographer is to enhance what

they naturally have.

I look forward to seeing how you guys

approach these shoots with confidence, and thank you

guys so much.

Thanks so much.