Your shape belongs in front of the camera.

There's a quiet moment, every shoot, where someone says it out loud: "I'm not really photogenic." It's almost always followed by an apology for a body — a stomach, a chin, a pair of arms — that has done nothing wrong except exist in front of a camera that nobody taught them how to meet.

I want to flip that. The camera doesn't decide who's photogenic. The photographer does — through the lens they pick up, the light they put you in, and the way they ask you to stand. If you're curvy, soft-bodied, plus-size, or just carry yourself differently than the bodies you see on Instagram, this post is for you. Nothing about your shape needs fixing for a frame to feel like you. It just needs to be photographed with intention.

Here's what to expect when you book a portrait session with me.

We talk before we shoot

The shoot starts a week before the shoot. I'll ask you what you want the photos for — a personal milestone, a profile refresh, a gift, a comeback after a big year — because that changes everything: location, wardrobe, energy, even the lens I bring.

I'll also ask the small stuff. What angles you've never liked in mirror selfies. What you secretly love about yourself but no photo has ever caught. Whether you'd rather be moving or still. If you tell me, "I hate my arms in sleeveless tops," that's not a flaw I need to fix — it's a styling note. We pick a jacket, a wrap, a sleeve, or a pose where your arms aren't doing the work. Easy.

Wardrobe — softness is your friend

A few principles I share with every client, and they matter doubly for fuller figures:

• Structure over cling. Fabric that holds its own shape (linen, denim, wool blends, a tailored shirt) skims the body. Tight stretchy fabric records every contour, which most people don't want as their first portrait choice.
• One bold layer, one quiet layer. A long coat over a fitted tee. A patterned dress under a plain cardigan. The eye reads the bold layer; the quiet layer does the slimming work invisibly.
• Vertical lines are your free pass. Open jackets, long necklaces, button plackets, scarves down the front — anything vertical guides the eye top-to-bottom and lengthens the frame.
• Colour matters less than fit. A black slimming dress that doesn't fit will photograph worse than a coral one that does. Tailoring beats palette every time.

If you want a wardrobe call, I'll do one — for free — before the shoot. Bring three options to the day so we can swap if the light or location asks for it.

How I'll light and shoot you

The technical bit, written in plain English:

I shoot with soft, directional light — usually a big window, an open shaded doorway, or a diffused off-camera flash that mimics one. Hard overhead light is the enemy of every face but especially fuller faces; it pools shadow under the jaw and chin and is the single biggest reason people don't recognise themselves in photos.

My lens default for portraits is an 85mm — long enough to compress features kindly, short enough to keep the frame intimate. For storytelling shots and full-body work I'll move to 35mm, which lets the environment do some of the heavy lifting.

I'll often shoot from slightly above your eye line. Not dramatically — just enough that your chin reads sharp and your eyes catch the light. A tiny chin-forward push (it feels strange; it photographs beautifully) finishes the look.

Sample poses — for the girls

Five that nearly always work. Try them in the mirror; they feel awkward, they look honest.

1. Three-quarter turn, weight on the back foot. Body angled 30° from camera, front shoulder dropped, hand on the hip closest to camera. Defines a waist line out of nothing.
2. Hands in the hair, eyes off-camera. Lifting the arms breaks the silhouette and opens the chest. Looking past the lens kills the "stare-into-the-camera" stiffness.
3. Seated, leaning forward, forearms on knees. A stool, a low wall, a step. The lean tips your face toward the lens — instantly the brightest, sharpest thing in the frame.
4. Walking toward camera, looking down then up. Motion does two things: it loosens the body and gives me three different expressions in one sequence. The look-up at the last second is the keeper.
5. Wall lean — one foot flat, one foot raised behind you. Asymmetric legs read longer than parallel legs. Hands in pockets, in hair, or holding a coffee — any of them.

Sample poses — for the guys

Same principle: angles, asymmetry, and a chin you can be proud of.

1. Hands tucked, three-quarter turn, weight on back foot. Thumbs in the front pockets, palms loose — never crammed in. Shoulders square to me, hips angled away. Looks like you stand this way every day, even if you don't.
2. Forearms on knees, leaning in. A stool or low bench. Strong jawline angle, hands relaxed (not clasped tightly), eyes either on the lens or out past my left shoulder.
3. Jacket over the shoulder, walking shot. One hand holding the jacket collar, the other relaxed. The vertical of the jacket lengthens the torso and pulls the eye away from the midsection.
4. Wall lean with crossed ankles. Back against a wall, one ankle crossed over the other, hands clasped loosely at the front or tucked behind. Strong, calm, intentional.
5. Hands clasped at the front, slight chin-down look-up. Standing tall, arms relaxed in front. Tiny chin tuck, eyes up to camera — the classic confident-quiet portrait, and it works on every body.

After the shoot

A few things I will not do in editing: I won't slim your waist, narrow your jaw, or thin your arms. I'll correct the things that aren't really you — a stray hair across the eye, a shiny spot from the heat, a wrinkle in the wardrobe — and I'll lift the light so your skin glows the way it did in the moment. The body that walked into the shoot is the body that walks out of the gallery.

If that sounds like the kind of portrait session you've been waiting for, come say hi. Bring the body you have. We'll make frames that feel like the person inside it.