I was watching a great movie called Brothers the other night.  Amazing movie !  It was about a soldier that goes to Afghanistan and is thought to be dead.  His wife, brother and kids struggle to keep life sane.  Now obviously this is not the point of my post.  So many times I see great photography in a technical aspect, but there is no life in the photo.  Yes the photo is lit very nice, the make up is great, hair , wardrobe etc. is all amazing BUT,  it is the most BORING photo because the model does not know how to act.

In the movie Brothers there are many scenes where there are only a few lines of dialogue and the scene is longer than those few  lines of dialogue.  The scene is longer because each character has their own plight to deal with now that the father/husband/brother is thought to be dead.  The emotional reactions are so powerful that if they added lines to those expressions, the scene would be ruined.  Sometimes in life it’s not what we say that makes us think, but it’s what we don’t say that makes us think and feel !

Try this:  next time you watch a movie, drama preferred, look for how many times you notice a reaction from the actor without the actor speaking and note how you feel and notice how the actor who is being spoken to reacts and feels.    Then in your everyday life, when you are dealing with people in conversation face to face, notice their reactions after you have said something.  If you are with a group of people notice every person in the group.  I always say in my mind ” Cut to Joe, cut to James, cut to Holly, cut to Laura.  And in my mind it’s like a scene in a movie.  Even be nosy and listen in on other conversations and watch every person’s reaction.  You will be surprised at what you have been missing because you really haven’t OBSERVED !  And photographers are OBSERVERS of life !

Then next time you are photographing a model, or models look for subtle emotional reactions.  If your model isn’t giving you anything, then make up a story and put your model in that story, give her or him a character and watch the magic happen !

In this collage I made, I knew my model was going through some emotional turmoil.  So I bravely brought it up.  As I was shooting I was talking to her about the situation.  She let me into her soul and THAT is when the electricity runs through my body and through hers and we start making amazing photos.

We are dealing with human beings who all have something going on in their lives.  Work your way inside the soul of your model and look for the subtleties !

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