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Five ways to feel calm in front of the camera

JOANNA MAY PHOTOGRAPHY

I've hated having my photograph taken my whole life. Still do. I'm someone who hates being looked at, running a business that asks people to look, which is either very silly or exactly the right qualification.

So I know what the half-laugh means. The one that comes with "sorry, I'm so awkward in front of cameras." You're not awkward. You're being asked to do something unfamiliar with no idea whether you're doing it right.

Here are five things that help, and they work whether it's me holding the camera or your sister at a birthday party.

It's a conversation, not a performance.

The photographs you'll love most aren't the ones where you posed well. They're the in-between ones. A glance at your partner, the laugh that escapes when something goes wrong, the way you tuck your hair behind your ear when you're thinking.

So my job is to set up the situation, and yours is to forget I'm there for ten seconds at a time. That's all it takes, and ten seconds is nothing.

Move first, then stop.

Stiff bodies make stiff photographs. Walking, swaying, dancing badly, swinging a child about - anything that gives your muscles something to do softens everything, including your face.

When I ask you to just walk this way, I'm not photographing the walking. I'm photographing what your face does the second it stops worrying about what your face is doing.

Bring your person.

A partner. A baby. A best friend. A dog. Somebody you can look at instead of looking at the camera.

The fastest way to look natural is to stop being conscious of being looked at, and the easiest way to do that is to give your attention to someone you love. It works every time, and it's why family photographs are easier than portraits.

Trust the awkward bit.

The first ten minutes of every session feel strange. That isn't a sign it's going badly, it's just the warm-up, and I plan for it. Even the people you'd assume are naturals need a few minutes to settle.

So if you're feeling self-conscious early on, you can let it go. It softens. Every single time, without exception.

Let me do the thinking.

You don't have to know what to do with your hands. You don't have to invent angles. The whole reason you've booked a photographer is so somebody else carries that part.

So when I say look at her, or tilt your head a touch, or rest your hand there, that's not a correction. It's something concrete for your brain to hold onto instead of monitoring your own face, which is the thing that makes people look tense.

With love, Joanna x