Preparation

A little preparation goes a long way. These guidelines help you arrive relaxed and ready, so the session can be about you.

What to wear

• Do: wear medium-dark colors. Grays and jewel tones are best; brown, navy, maroon, deep red and forest green work well; black is okay but not ideal.
• Do: bring layers or accessories. Matt can photograph with and without the blazer, the tie or the scarf.
• Don’t: wear white, including undershirts.
• Don’t: wear patterns or stripes. They detract from the subject: you.
• Don’t: wear deep necklines. They draw attention away from your face.
• Don’t: wear a lot of jewelry. Trendy pieces date a photo faster.

Hair

• Do: wear your hair the way you usually wear it.
• Don’t: get a fresh haircut. Give your hair at least a week after a cut to look natural.

With our make-up artist

• Do: relax and let the make-up artist enhance your look. Don’t worry, it’s not a full makeover.
• Yes, that includes you: especially if you don’t ordinarily wear make-up. It makes you look younger and more natural by smoothing your skin tone. Nobody will know, and it washes off with soap and water.
• Do: feel free to bring your own make-up if you have concerns about colors and textures. But you’re always in good hands.
• Do: arrive with your hair as you usually wear it, and let the team make any adjustments.

Doing your own make-up

• Do: apply your make-up as you normally would.
• Do: use a semi-matte product.
• Do: feel free to bring your make-up for touch-ups, or to change your look during the session.
• Don’t: use anything “dewy.” It looks oily on camera.
• Don’t: wear make-up with glitter or iridescence. It looks wet, uneven or patchy in photos.
• Don’t: wear saturated colors unless they’re your signature style. Very dark eyes, neon lips and other trends date a photo faster.

“Feels weird, looks good!”

Because the camera lens sees differently than your eye, Matt may ask you to pose in different or unnatural-feeling positions. And he takes a lot of photos because (gasp!) you won’t like most of them. You’re not alone: most adults hate having their photo taken. Everything in the session is designed to bias it toward a shared success: a handful of images that show you at your best.

Feeling anxious?

Here’s one of Matt’s favorite TEDx talks to put you at ease, and it’s less than 15 minutes. Photographer Peter Hurley and psychologist Anna Rowley have devised a simple way to overcome your fear of the camera lens: “Bridging the self-acceptance gap with psyphotology” (TEDxCambridge).

Watch the talk

Questions?

If anything about your session is unclear, just ask.