RichardLavigne
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 p.5 #2 · Jesh de Rox / Beloved | |
Inku Yo wrote:
I still don't know what "Beloved" is all about. It would be easier for me to spend $16.500 if I knew what I was actually going to learn.
ok... I have a friend that is into the beloved thing.. he has the field guide (bought it used off for Ebay for CHEAP) and I asked him this quesition... here's his answer.
The biggest thing about Beloved is that it's basically emotional improv to help couples connect and have genuine moments together. I don't think it's going to work on every couple, and I think a big key is adapting the things you ask each couple to do specifically to that couple. Out of the 30 cards I only really use about a dozen. The rest are too far out there for me and who I am. I'm open and honest and authentic, but I'm not "lay your soul on the line and let's cry together, stranger and friend" open and honest and authentic.  It may end up like that anyway if the couple is an emotional couple, but the really far out there stuff is beyond what I'm comfortable asking of couples.
I'm happy to type out a few of the cards or even talk about them, since I've had a chance to listen to a lot of what Jesh says and adapt it to what is usable for me. For instance let's pretend you and Anne are the couple...
To begin, I summarize the first 5-6 cards in the set by simply talking to my couples and starting out with a few activities.
Okay guys, before we get started, I just want to take a minute and ask you to put aside any expectations you might have about this session. The process of photography is a two-way street. I'm going to give you guys some things to think about and do rather than asking you to give me stiff poses and forced smiles, and if we're authentic with each other we will create some beautiful, natural images that are very much a reflection of who you are together. So our primary goals are to be authentic and have some fun with this. Sound good to you guys?
Sure thing.
Awesome. So during this whole session, the key is for you guys to key in on each other, so to get started let me get you guys facing each other and holding hands. I'd like you to shut your eyes and really just focus on each other and the love you share. Whenever you're feeling especially loving, give the other person a little squeeze. I just like to start this way because it really helps you guys to focus on each other so we'll just do this for a minute or two.
Just a way to take a minute and clear your mind.
Okay now you guys can open your eyes and Rich I want you to give Anne a big hug, pick her up, and spin her around and you guys can kiss or hug or anything you feel comfortable with afterwards. Just spin her around and have fun with it.
So you do that and it's a great way to break the ice after taking that minute standing together with your eyes closed. I made this one up. In the Beloved guide Jesh mentions having the couples stand 10' apart with their eyes close and trying to find each other, but I don't want somebody falling or twisting an ankle and suing me so I went with this instead. So now you guys were maybe thinking I was high, and now you're having fun with the picking up and spinning thing. I immediately front-load the entire session with the light-hearted stuff.
Okay now we're going to take turns whispering in each other's ears, and the goal is to get the biggest reaction, and we're going to see who the winner is. You can go anywhere from completely goofy to completely Barry White "Baby I wanna butter yo bread" with this. Only you two can hear what the other is saying so have fun with it. We'll start with Rich whispering in your ear Anne and then you can whisper something in Rich's ear.
They have a blast doing this and I get some great reactions, because usually it's something super dirty or goofy that gets a big laugh, and I just stand back, shoot it, and let them have their moment. I'm 95% sure this is the one I used for the Beloved shot of Annabelle and Patrick that I have on my blog right now. I'll follow this up by something else like getting you two to sit down together cuddled up and asking you questions like Anne, go with the first thing that comes to mind, if Rich was a movie, what movie would he be? or Rich, again go with the first thing that comes to mind, if Anne were a fruit, what fruit would she be? I may or may not do this, may just talk to the couple, but my goal is to get the couple interacting with and thinking about each other. Usually it makes for some pretty funny answers though. Then I might transition into something a little more heavy.
Okay Rich, I want you to hold Anne close, and I want you to take a minute to think about the time that sticks out in your mind that you were most proud of Anne (you're immediately probably going to think about her in the hospital giving birth to Tyler), and I want you to tell her about that time and why you were so proud of her.
Depending on the couple, you can even start to get some tears flowing as early as here.
Okay Anne, I want you to take a minute to think about three memories you can't wait to share with Rich that haven't happened yet but that you want to create together, and I want you to tell Rich what they are and why they're important to you.
May or may not work depending on the couple and how creative they can get, but a big part of making it work is the way you ask and your tone of voice, and being authentic with them. If you do it right it can be anything from fun stuff like a crazy trip together or sky-diving, or it could be you guys watching Tyler get married one day and growing old together. All depends on the couple as to how effective this is, but I hope that my site and branding and the way I talk to my couples attracts couples that are okay with letting this kind of stuff happen and rolling with it.
Okay guys, I want you to hold each other close and shut your eyes. Take a moment and imagine that this was the last day you were going to get to spend together. I want each of you to take a minute to let that sink in, because tomorrow is never promised. I want you to let the other person know just how much you care about them and love them by the way you touch their face with your face or hand.
This can get really emotional. I know if someone did this to my wife and I, we'd both be in tears and we're have a moment for sure (my eyes are watering up a little typing it and just thinking about it). I'd let that moment happen and then I'd ask them to look at each other and kiss each other as if it was the last time. Then I'd ask them to look at me like they're looking at each other.
Mixed in through this I may do some slightly posed stuff, but what works best is either doing the posed stuff up front, or at the tail end. At this point I've covered over 50% of the Beloved Field Guide (all the stuff that's not REALLY far our there like imaging people have incurable diseases and the cure is in your fingertips and I want you to draw a picture in the air and run your hands over their body to heal them type stuff) along with a few I made up. That's the beauty because you can continue to make up various exercises/activities to get the couple interacting with each other. I'll do the posed stuff at the end after I already have them relaxed and naturally interacting with each other.
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NOTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! why, b/c they actually do photography for a living. But since they are busy working, they are not famous plat forum speakers.