So it turns out that in my search to find MY style I have stumbled upon a new pet peeve. It’s something that all photographers…and I do mean all…do. Even those of you who are taking pictures with your phone and making amazing images of yourself. Think about it for a minute. WHERE DO WE HOLD THE CAMERA???
Apparently it’s human nature or something to take pictures of women from above. But is it Biology or Sociology? In my research I read everything from “to make the eyes look bigger” to “to make the body look smaller”. My FAVORITE line (insert dripping sarcasm emoji) was “if the chin is too high, the subject may look conceited and her neck may appear too long.”
EXCUSE ME? Oh Honey… No.
The reason this irritates me is twofold. First… I’m short. I mean… I’m 5’5″ which isn’t THAT short, but I like to be barefoot so the women I’m photographing are usually taller than me which means I have to climb up on a stool and that takes away my ability to quickly jump around to do what I want to do.
But the main reason that it aggravates me is that we are taught to photograph men from a lower angle to MAKE THEM LOOK MORE POWERFUL!
Ummmm…. Women are powerful. (Notice how I didn’t say, “Women are powerful, too?”) Women are amazing creatures who do outstanding things. Women are not helpless creatures who need to be looked down on to be appreciated.
What does photographing a woman from a lower angle even LOOK like?
If you google it, you’ll either get stuff that you don’t want on your browser history, or you’ll get warnings about big shoulders and double chins. Please also note that it is recommended to photograph men from a lower angle to hide balding. Seriously. Look it up.
Anyway… I just wanted you to know that I will continue to follow the rules sometimes and take “normal” photos. But a lot of the time… I’m going to be working on changing how people…especially women… look at powerful images of themselves.
Rules were made to be broken. A change is gonna come.
