After I was accredited as a Tai Chi Chih instructor last October, I got an email offering a complementary teacher’s listing. Someone would help set it up, I just needed to send text and a photo. So I started asking my friends if they knew any photographers they would recommend.
I eventually reached out to Sherri Farmer and from the very first interaction I knew I was going to learn a few things. After I told her I wanted a head shot for my new book and some shots of me practicing TCC, she said what I needed was her “Branding Package.” Since I grew up on a farm, this made me think twice. However, I felt reassured when she explained she would be coming to my home and would be taking indoor and outdoor pictures. She never used the word branding again, but simply said she’d come in the early afternoon when lighting would be the most favorable.
When the day arrived, she called saying she was on the way but would be a little late because she had forgotten one of her cameras. This gave me more time to wonder what I had gotten myself into. I don’t usually like how I look in photos. I reassessed the clothes I had carefully chosen, touched up my lipstick, and sprayed my hair. I was getting a little anxious.
Then she called again. There was a blockade at the end of our street and she couldn’t get through. Wendell rushed out and helped solve the problem and soon she was here. She was very smiley and seemed to know exactly what pictures she wanted and how to coax them out of her reluctant subject. Her camera clicked like the Old Camera notification sound I use on my phone but it went off thousands of times. She was everywhere. I kept busy watching her and following her directions.
At one point, she asked if I wanted a peek at some of the pictures. I thought it couldn’t hurt, but it did. In some of them, I saw a hunched over woman. I said, I don’t like how I look. I told her I’d been working on my posture and it was disappointing to see those photos. She looked me in the eye. She reassured me, directed me to tip my chin down, lift the crown of my head up, fluff my hair. All the while she was leading me from room to room. Telling me where to look.
I changed my outfit and when I came out wearing a green turtleneck mid layer, she asked me to pose wearing just it, without my sweater. I bemoaned a fat roll that showed. “Don’t you know about ruching?” she said as she pinched her fingers together and made wrinkles up and down my turtleneck like you see on a swimsuit.
We went outside. She saw the only golden leaves left on a tree in our neighbor’s yard and off we went. It was a fun hour with her and if you ever want an adventure and some good photos, here’s her contact information: Sherri Farmer, 515 745 5727, email address: info@Ellariophotography.com.
IMAGE: Practicing Tai Chi Chih movement “Carry the ball to the other side” in my sunroom.
