Dealing with unexpected erections and ants in my pants

If you are anything like me when you are working then you will want to remain the consummate professional, whatever may happen.

I pride myself on providing my clients with a wonderful photography experience. When I arrive at a portrait session, my intention is to do my job with calm, positive energy. I direct my subjects and help them feel relaxed with lighthearted and easygoing banter.

Sometimes, however, the universe has other plans for you. Take, for example, the time I arrived at a client’s home for a photo session. I’d just gotten the mom, dad, sons, daughter and very affectionate labrador into a great pose when all of a sudden the dad shouted, ‘“STOP, he’s got an erection.” I promptly lowered my camera and quietly panicked. I thought he was talking about one of his teenage sons, and how awkward this situation was going to be for him. My brain was desperately trying to think of some consoling words for a teenage boy with an untimely boner. Turns out, it was the family dog, proudly sporting a very obvious erection. Yes, sometimes (apparently) on a photo shoot, you just have to patiently wait for an erection to subside to get the shot you want.

And sometimes on a shoot I get ants in my pants, literally. A repeat client asked me out to their summer cottage south of Stockholm one glourious June afternoon to photograph the extended family. After greeting everyone, I found a lovely wooden staircase for them to sit on. I backed up as far as I could to get everyone in the frame. In my enthusiasm, I accidentally backed up on an ant hill and before I had a chance to react a furious colony of ants were charging under my pants and up my legs. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen Riverdance (the Irish dance show), well, I gave those dancers a run for their money that day with the way I kicked my legs into the air. I had no idea I could kick or scream that high. It was several long minutes later before I got those angry ants out of my pants. Yes, the little buggers bit the bejesus out of me, but you know what, I still got the shot ;)

In the mood for love | How I photograph couples

Nevermind location, location, location. It’s all about connection, connection, connection ;)

Remember the connection you and your partner had before the kids came along? Remember the excitement, the butterflies, getting lost in each other’s eyes, the lazy weekend lie-ins, exploring new cities hand in hand... Those were the days, right? ;)

I don’t know about you, but I can hold my hands up and say I’m a terribly romantic and soppy soul. I love seeing people in love - completely lost in each other, oblivious to the rest of the world. My hubby and I still hold hands, even after 20 years together. I’ve got a collection of love notes and Valentine’s cards I’ve accumulated through the years that I will never recycle. I’ve still got gifts from my first love that I can’t bear to part with. I still grin like an idiot when I watch Dirty Dancing (Patrick Swayze in that black shirt though - be still my beating heart). John Legend’s All of Me makes me swoon. Yes, I did just say swoon like this is the 1950’s and I’m some damsel about to faint. I did warn you - I’m soppy.

Whenever possible I try to photograph the parents together on a photo session. For many of them, it’s been years since they had a photo taken of just the two of them. And surprise surprise, they are always happy they got in front of the camera and got that precious shot :)

P.S no women were thrown in the water in the making of these photographs ;)

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes | Familjefotografering Stockholm

“Pretty soon now you're gonna get older “ - David Bowie

Isn’t it funny how they change and grow right before your eyes? You never notice it as it happens, you just see it suddenly one day they come home from school, or they stand it different light, or you see them next to a younger kid, or you find a photograph of when they were nine months old, and then you see it. You see the subtle changes; different expressions, the hair colour has changed slightly, legs are longer, the look in the eyes is more grown up. So much can change in your children in such a short amount of time.

Don’t stop photographing them once they have outgrown the baby and toddler stage. All changes should be documented. All stages are worthy of photographs.

“Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.” - Dr Seuss

When feelings change | A personal post

Have you ever been so into something, you just couldn’t imagine life without it? You can’t remember what you did before that thing came along and took up so much of your time…

There was a time when I started every day with scrolling through my phone, mainly Instagram and Facebook. Mindlessly scrolling through words and images from everyone else’s life . This went on for years. Countless hours were lost to my phone screen.

Then, one day in November of last year, I realised that my feelings about Facebook and Instagram had changed. I had completely lost the urge to scroll. It’s like my brain needed a break from the continuous bombardment of advertising, imagery, information, suggestions, etc. I decided to step back and take a break for the month of December. And because I don’t do anything by halves, I took the audacious step of removing Facebook and Instagram from my phone (cue scary music). Now I won’t lie, I was a tad trepidatious about this. The FoMO (fear of missing out) was strong initially. But I was determined and braved it out.

And do you know what happened? Absolutely nothing. Life went on perfectly fine without my daily immersions into social media. The FoMO virtually disappeared overnight and my mornings became scroll-free. It also turns out I was able to free up way more time to read and study the two things that really interest and fascinate me: personal development and spiritual growth. I went inwards instead of always looking outwards. It was so recharging and invigorating.

I wondered though if by January I’d be itching to dip my toes into those virtual worlds again, but no. I still haven’t reinstalled FB or IG back on my phone. I haven’t gone completely cold turked though as I still use Facebook from time to time for business purposes. I enjoy blogging and the Jolly blog is connected to my FB business page, but for the most part I’m not half the scroller I used to be.

Maybe sometime in the future my feelings will change again. Maybe I’ll go back to regular scheduling and scrolling. I like to keep my options open. For now though, I’m enjoying the freedom :).