Camera Shy

For most of my life, I've looked pretty rubbish in photographs. That's why paying lots of money for a pretty dress and a nice photographer makes me feel so nervous: I may well turn out looking frumpy and uncomfortable anyway.

There's really only been one photographer in my life who has made me feel comfortable in front of the camera, my friend Anne Abarr. She took my high school graduation photos. I think I look particularly nice in them. She made me feel beautiful and completely comfortable in front of the camera. (She now runs a studio with her husband. You can see more of their work here.)

Anne didn't quite work out as our wedding photographer, but she was really supportive in helping us find another one. No one else in the Atlanta area seemed to have Anne's impeccable taste. After days and days of Google searches, we found Robert Combier. I have to say, his photography is one of my favorite finds for our wedding so far.

When I contacted Robert, I expressed my concerns about our photographs to him. I'm camera shy. Adam is a foot and a half taller than me. And neither of us seems to photograph very well at all. Free of charge, he came to my house for a consultation. He showed me all of his photographic equipment and walked me through the day. He started taking pictures after I'd dropped my guard. I have to say, he got some pretty nice shots. As an added bonus, Robert is a graduate student at Georgia Tech. Adam and I were very excited to support the work of a student like us, trying to make ends meet while doing a degree. It helps that his work is particularly brilliant.

Of course, I understand that part of the process of brilliant wedding photos is learning to be comfortable with myself and the way I look. As a matter of fact, learning how to comfortable position my body was one of my goals when I started taking ballet .That's why I was so excited by the ballet headshots taken the other day in the lead up to our show on 29 and 30 May. One of my fellow dancers, Henry Uniacke, runs a small wedding photography business. He photographed us for our program. Between his wonderful behind-the-camera work and my ballet teacher posing us nicely, he took really beautiful pictures of me. It was a wonderful object lesson in how to have my photo taken.

We're supposed to be compiling a list of photographs we want taken during our wedding. Can you think of any shots we "have to have"?