Dancing in a Tutu — The Importance of Capturing Personality in Your Portraits

Lorenna and I sat down in front of my big screen TV and I revealed these photographs that I'd taken of her daughter. She really liked them. She thought her daughter Angie looked absolutely gorgeous in the white tutu. But it wasn't until Lorenna asked to see the 'behind the scenes' photos that we discovered the real gemstones. I had originally chosen, edited and published the 'pretty poses' — the poses that resembled a fashion magazine. But when we scrolled through the behind the scenes photos, tears appeared in Lorenna's eyes. I heard her whisper, "Now, that's my Angie." These pictures of Angie laughing were Lorenna's favorites. These were the photos she loved. These were the images that Lorenna wanted to purchase. These were the images that captured her daughter's truest personality. They weren't he perfectly pretty poses that I'd tried so hard to memorize and coach Angie into. They were the moments in-between these awkward body-twisting positions, the moments that made Angie wiggle, giggle and shine (wiggle & giggle?...my apologies for such a sickly sweet phrase haha). Five months later, I've finally really embraced these in-between laughing snapshots of beautiful Angie. I am so excited to share this sequence with you today! Angie you are beautiful on the outside but especially on the inside! Thank you for sharing your light with me! And thank you Lorenna for reminding me of the real beauty that I want to search for and capture with my camera. 

These are the first set of images that I presented to Lorenna...

These are the behind-the-scenes images that Lorenna loved...

These two images below are my favorites :D I wanted to share them with you in BIG VERSION hehe! I love #1 because it's simple — no tutu, just Angie staring straight at me and I love #2 because her laugh is so genuine and I love the way her hands are placed on her knees, it just adds that little touch of vintage Hollywood sparkle...or something like that haha

Remember to capture the beauty of personality my friends!