Q&A 3 – For Bodybuilders
Tips for bodybuilders
To book or enquire, please go to bespoke photo sessions for private clients
Where will the photo session take place?
It depends on the look and feel you want to achieve in the photographs. The more you tell me about yourself and any ideas you may have, the better I can advise you. Some ideas are mentioned in the bodybuilder portfolio description.
I would advise against photographs created in the studio.
Will I look big enough?
Most of us think that we look better and more impressive than we really are. Look to the bodybuilding and fitness magazines for inspiration but don’t expect to look as if you had just walked off a glossy cover.
Fitness models are often chemically assisted – and if they are not, pumping iron is all they do – and the photographs in magazines are routinely digitally altered to create ever more impressive biceps, finer lats and better sculpted abs.
I do not believe in deceptive manipulation. It only serves to create an idealised view far removed from reality. In my photographs, I will use skilful lighting to emphasize your muscle definition, but I always aim to show the real you – not an artificially altered maxi-you.
Cut up or bulk up?
Both! If you are preparing to be in peak form for a contest, you are probably not in peak form for a photo session, physically and mentally. Your muscles may be at their biggest and your bodyfat percentage at its lowest, but in photographs you may give a haggard, worn and starved impression.
Cut & bulk is all about timing. The ideal timing of a photo session depends on what you want to get out of it. Generally, fuller muscles and a slightly less sculpted look are infinitely more pleasing and ultimately more impressive.
If you are preparing for a contest, a day or two after may be perfect for a photo session. After your show, have your pizza, curry (whatever), but do not drink any alcohol. Have a long night’s rest. The carbs will fill out your muscles without adding any appreciable fat in that short space of time. Plus, you will be less exhausted, less irritable and generally in a more positive frame of mind.
If you are not preparing for a contest, diet to get body fat as low as you can, then give your body some nourishment (see above) for a day or two before your photo session.
Pump!
You want to get the timing right to achieve the perfect pump for the photo session. You know best which foods and exercises work for you. Make sure you know the perfect timing, too. Unless you have your pump down to a fine art, experiment before the photo session.
It is a good idea to bring dumbells with you to the photo session.
Should I use a tan or posing oil?
Posing oil spoils a photograph. It causes reflections, which show as ugly, washed-out highlights in photographs.
If you are very pale, try some of the non-permanent suntans available. Experiment: go for a medium shade and stay away from anything too glossy or dead-matt.
What clothes should I wear?
Bring any clothes in which you feel good and that show off your physique favourably. There is enough time during the photo session to experiment with different clothes. You probably want to wear posing shorts but also jeans (topless and in T-shirts, vests, etc.).
To book or enquire, please go to bespoke photo sessions for private clients
