Getting unstuck. How to remember more than one pose.

Quick, how many white things can you name in the next minute? Don’t think about it. Just start counting it up in your head. Go.

OK, now, how many white things can you name sitting in your refrigerator? Go.

Welcome to tunnel vision. When asked these questions, most people will come up with about the same number of items for both. Now think about shooting. Ever had the same problem during a photoshoot? You know what I’m talking about – the tough couples. The ones who are stiff. Uncomfortable. Distracted. The ones who seem like they wish they were anywhere but there with the wrong balance of height and weight for what you’re after. Suddenly, every pose starts to feel the same, and you’re just repeating yourself over and over.

The trick to getting past it? Try compartmentalizing, just like we did with the refrigerator. Don’t treat each whole pose as one shot. You can only store so many poses in your head. Think of each pose as a framework for several shots. Get them in position, then start introducing variations. Go from theme to theme. That’s makes it accessible, just like thinking of white things in a refrigerator.

The easiest thing to start with is the hands. When you think about it, it’s always the hand and arm positions that pull you into shots. Look through the fashion magazines, and see what models do. What makes the pictures so alive? It’s the hands, right? They create the story and help you identify how to adjust the rest of the body. So, now that you’re thinking of hands, just think of places to put them. A girl can hold the guys hand, put it on his waist, on his chest, his neck, his arm. Each one of these suggests something slightly different. Be creative. Push things even further by playing with things. She can brush aside her hair, his hair, adjust his clothing, or hold onto something. He can do similar things. Mix this in with shooting tight, wide, low, and high, and you can get almost a whole shoot off one basic position.

What else can you do? Play with moods. Nothing anchors a person more than getting stuck on one mood. Skip that. Make yourself do something other than just “romantic” or “happy.” Switch things up. You could go for playful, serious, whimsical, or coy. Face to face seriously is wholly different from face to face playfully. You can imagine scenarios, too. See how different moods affect your decisions for the way people interact. Mix in moods with hand positions, and you have two powerful components of a pose. From there, just add a few head variations, leg variations, and weight shifts, and you have a limitless palette of shots. Easy, right? All you have to do to avoid shooter’s block is create something accessible. Ground yourself with specific associations, and you’ll be able to break out of even the most difficult situations on the worst of days.