Come As You Are: What It’s Really Like to Be Photographed by TaylorTigerlily

There is something I hear all the time.

“I’m awkward in front of the camera.”

Perfect.

You do not need to know your angles. You do not need to practice poses in the mirror. You definitely do not need to spend the week before your session trying to become some slightly different, supposedly more photogenic version of yourself.

You just need to show up.

I’ll take it from there.

Come As You Are is more than a line on my website. It’s pretty much the entire point.

I photograph couples wildly in love, people stepping in front of a camera in lingerie for the first time, intimate weddings, quiet portraits, loud portraits, and occasionally whatever strange cinematic idea has been rattling around inside my head.

Those things might look completely different from one another, but the way I approach them is the same.

I want to photograph you.

Not the version of you that knows exactly where to put your hands.

Not the version that suddenly becomes a professional model the second a camera comes out.

You.

You’re Not Supposed to Know What to Do

That’s my job.

I’m not going to put you somewhere beautiful, point a camera at you, and expect you to magically figure out what happens next.

I direct.

Sometimes that means giving you an exact pose. Sometimes it means fixing one tiny thing. Sometimes I’ll give you something to do instead of asking you to pose at all.

Move closer. Walk toward me. Look at them, not me. Put your hand here. Do that again, but slower. Stop thinking about the camera for a second.

And sometimes I’ll see something happening naturally and just let it happen.

The goal isn’t to manufacture a version of you that only exists for photographs.

It’s to give you enough direction that you can stop wondering what the hell you’re supposed to be doing and actually settle into the moment.

That’s usually when the good stuff starts.

Bring Me the Whole Vision. Or Bring Me Half an Idea.

I’m a photographer, but a huge part of what I do is creative direction.

So if you already know exactly what you want, give it to me.

Bring the mood board. Bring the outfit. Bring the reference from a movie you watched ten years ago that has somehow never left your brain. Tell me about the lighting, the feeling, the location, the tiny detail you absolutely need to have.

I’m happy to help you bring that vision to life.

But you can also come to me and say:

“I have this idea…”

And then trail off.

I love that too.

Give me the seed and let me play with it.

We can build the location, wardrobe, movement, light, mood, and little details around it until it becomes something much bigger than the idea we started with.

It reminds me a little bit of being a kid playing make believe. You start with one idea, then somebody says wait, what if… and suddenly you've built an entire world around it.

I never really stopped doing that.

Now I just have cameras.

You Don’t Have to Look Like Anyone Else

There is no prerequisite for being photographed.

You don't need to lose ten pounds first.

You don't need to wait until you feel more confident.

You don't need to suddenly become comfortable with every inch of yourself.

And you certainly don't need to look like the people already in my portfolio.

Part of my job is paying attention to the person actually standing in front of me.

How you move. What makes you laugh. What makes you pull back a little. What makes you light up. What feels like you and what very clearly does not.

Especially with something vulnerable like boudoir, I'm not interested in forcing everyone through the same list of poses because those poses happen to photograph well.

I want the photographs to belong to the person in them.

I’ll Edit Your Photos. I Won’t Reinvent You.

Every photograph you receive from TaylorTigerlily is hand edited by me.

Editing is part of the art. I shape the color, light, contrast, mood, crop, and finishing details so the final photographs feel complete and intentional.

What I'm not interested in doing is turning you into somebody else.

I don't believe you need to be rebuilt after the photograph is taken.

I want you to open your gallery and recognize yourself.

Maybe yourself on a particularly excellent day.

But still yourself.

There’s Room for All of It Here

TaylorTigerlily doesn't fit perfectly into one little photography box.

That’s intentional.

I love intimate weddings and tiny elopements. I love couples who can't stop touching each other. I love boudoir that can be soft and romantic or dark and unapologetic. I love portraits that don't need an occasion at all.

And I really love when somebody lets me get weird.

There is room here for beautiful.

There is room for sexy.

There is room for romantic, ridiculous, cinematic, quiet, dramatic, strange, playful, dark, colorful and completely over the top.

There is room for the idea you've been saving because you weren't sure who you'd trust to photograph it.

And there is room for you to have absolutely no idea what you want yet.

We can figure that part out together.

Come As You Are

You don't need to show up knowing how to be photographed.

You don't need to perform for me.

You don't need to become somebody more interesting, more confident, more comfortable, more stylish, more romantic or more anything before you're allowed to step in front of my camera.

Bring me what you've got.

Your person. Your idea. Your nerves. Your ridiculous outfit. Your wedding dress. Your lingerie. Your fake blood. Your half finished Pinterest board. Your “I don't know, I just want it to feel like this.”

We'll make something out of it.

Come as you are.

I'll meet you there.

TTYL,