Gender Neutral Posing
Here are 5 gender neutral posing tips to help you with your clients
1. Don’t ASSume Pronouns
Know what happens?
That familiar feeling comes back of being overlooked, or not seen as valid. We’ve been there.
There’s nothing wrong with asking your clients their pronouns right off the bat!! It’s a requirement in my contact form because it reassures that they chose a photographer that will respect their identity. Even if there is a slip up, simple acknowledge the mistake was made and do better next time.
2. General prompts or questions
Prompting with an activity in mind creates genuine moments with authentic reactions. It sparks up the creativity train, and not to mention it’s a fun look at the person’s spin on it. Even something as simple as, “walk in a certain direction”, takes out the gender role aspect, allowing that freedom of expression. Simple can be good too!
3. Ditch the Guy/Girl role mentality
Heteronormative roles are dead. Period.
I’m pretty sure that 98% of same sex couples have or will be asked “Who’s the guy and who’s the girl in the relationship?”.
Automatic. Turn. Off.
Instead, let your client to take the lead on this one. I like to choose various features like height, or personalities to keep it pretty general. As they’re getting in position, keep them in the lead by asking “one of them” to stand a certain way and “the other” look this way. Even if your couple is presenting a masculine individual and a femme individual this is not permission to pose them how you view their identities. Simply ask if it’s something they feel comfy doing.
4. Open Communication = KEY
Being transparent and honest shows that they can trust you to bring their vision to life. A conversation about what they truly want and what doesn’t work can impact the experience of the entire photo shoot. Friendly reminder, THEY hired you for a job and if something is off, it’s likely they might find a different photographer next time.
Create a visual
Let’s bring out those MOOD BOARDS! Compiling all the details from color choices, backgrounds/locations, and you guessed it, pose/prompt ideas! Grab a diverse choice of posing ideas and check in to see if it’s something that resonates with them. If not, let’s switch it up until it works!