As a photographer, I do the majority of my work outside and from a distance from my subjects. So when the reality of a lot of big, physically-distant changes to our daily lives set in, I took solace in the fact that at least I had a job and passion that I could do while remaining safe for both my clients and myself....right? Well, during my first session back after a long break, I not only had a little jitters set in (I was rusty on directing and posing), but I also realized quickly how AWKWARD it is to remain physically distant when interacting with people. It is not in our nature to keep our distance, to not touch, to not close-talk (haha, not that I'm a close-talker, but I'm also not a 6ft away talker, haha!). I found myself struggling to be natural because there were many times when I would have naturally reached out to give someone a hand over a log, carry their purse so it wasn't in the shot, readjust a pose, or clear a flyaway hair, but I couldn't do that! Also I find that over an hour session, I ask lots of questions, give people TMI about myself (haha), and crack bad jokes...in short, bond with my clients. And when you bond with awesome people (if you're me), you hug them! By the end of that first session back, I had taken lots of mental notes about all the modifications I would have to make going forward, and how I would wrap my head around still being authentic and warm with the added pressure of being....distant.
So if you're a hugger/hand on shoulder/firm-hand-shaker like me, don't forget to open up with warm words and smiles when you're concentrating on keeping distance, because physical distance doesn't have to be cold and disconnected!
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