Ever since its invention, the camera has been a tool for making love immortal. From the pocket tintype portraits of soldiers during The American Civil War, to the digital engagement pictures that come across facebook every .023 seconds. It’s the human condition to want to immortalize and share that special person in our lives.

Here’s some tips on getting portrait photos of your one and only, without the drama:

• 1. Photograph them doing something they love. It’s easy to capture the fun loving essence of your soul-mate, when they are comfortable and having a good time. The smiles are natural, the joy is genuine.
• 2. Know their insecurities and work around them. This sounds like a no brainer but it’s literally the key to the photo kingdom. If your special someone hates their left/right ear proportions, can’t stand that 1 mm childhood scar above their eyebrow, the left side of their face, etc. Then avoid the problem areas. Take it from their “favorite side.” Selectively use angles and the distance between you and the subject to get the shot. Avoid the insecurities and you won’t get caught before you even get out of the gate.
• 3. They always think they look fat, learn to work with it. Whether it’s the size of their arms, their chin, the body in general, it’s always a touchy issue. Even some celebrities I work with are insecure on levels the likes of which have never been seen. Do me a favor and learn this, always shoot from a higher angle. Find a step stool, safely stand on a chair (not a swiveling chair, I have stitches that proves it isn’t a good idea), even have the subject sit down and photograph them while standing up. This is magic for solving body perception issues. It will make someone look better almost every time.
• 4. Take pictures of different expressions. Have them smile at the camera, smile looking away from the camera, looking pensively at the camera with curious eyes, or even try a candid. Love is complex, expressions should reflect it. Fake personality on the wrong person creates an awkward photo. Some people just don’t look good smiling from tooth to tooth. Find that essence that makes your heart flutter.
• 5. Don’t retouch. Photographers are always falling on this double edge sword, when it comes to taking photos of their love . Personally, I won’t retouch photos of my signifigant others. Why? It’s the worst feeling ever, having someone you love, begging you to retouch their photo. They look over your shoulder as you take away the wrinkles, the bags under the eyes, the blemishes. It’s the ultimate “I love you, but here’s how you should look in a perfect world” trap. You can’t win, seriously, i’ve tried. Remember…people like to be retouched, they don’t like to watch you retouch them.

Love is easy to feel, it’s harder to capture in a photo. The point of these tips isn’t to hide who someone is or what they really look like. Rather, it’s about positioning yourself to create something real, lasting, and overall makes someone feel loved.

I was taking a walk yesterday and felt like being a cool poet or a beatnik (snap, snap). So I wrote a description of the photo with phrases that read both forwards and backwards. Wow…my high school english teacher Ms. Wolfe would be proud!

The Chicago wind pushes against you, walking down a street strewn with yellow leaves, torn by the traffic of hurried pedestrians.

The sun is sharp, light cuts an edge thru a nearby apartment building, as it lowers in the western sky.

There is no music muting the sound of the city, your chest is tight, the world weighing heavy on your mind.

Lifting your eyes towards the clouds, obscured by the nearly barren branches of a tree, what do you see?

You snap a photo on your phone, realizing everything has a story, about to leave the past behind.

The moment your realize everything happens for a reason, life doesn’t move backwards, capture it while you can.

Capture it while you can, life doesn’t move backwards, the moment your realize everything happens for a reason.

About to leave the past behind, realizing everything has a story, you snap a photo on your phone.

What do you see, obscured by the nearly barren branches of a tree, lifting your eyes towards the clouds?

The world weighing heavy on your mind, your chest is tight, there is no music muting the sound of the city.

As it lowers in the western sky, light cuts an edge thru a nearby apartment building, the sun is sharp.

Torn by the traffic of hurried pedestrians, walking down a street strewn with yellow leaves, the Chicago wind pushes against you.

For the most part, we all begin as happy kids. We love to swing on monkey bars, play tag, and run in circles like little puppies chasing our tails. We don’t notice or care if we are wearing gucci shoes, or hand me downs from a charity bin. That’s pretty awesome if you ask me. But at some point, we lose that innocence, and all hell breaks loose. Self identity and comparative analysis infects our mind like a virus. They say we have a lot to learn from children. For they know how to be happy. The older we get, the more we lose their precious insight on life. I believe it. But inevitably, we all grow old.

Above: A young Jeff Schear, just happy to be alive, no insecurity whatsoever.

I remember the first time I had an insecure thought about my body. It was in 3rd grade, I was wearing jeans, and I looked down at my thighs, spread against my little red school chair. Immediately I felt bad, really really bad. As cliche as it sounds, I thought they looked fat. In fact, I remember trying to cover my thighs, by pulling my t-shirt over them. It’s as if there was this click in my mind and the entire classroom could hear the sound of my brain making the connection. It sounds insane doesn’t it? As a kid I was active everyday, I wasn’t overweight, but the perception of my thighs led into my first negative thoughts about my body. INSECURITY had reared its ugly head.

Mine is a shallow story, probably borderline offensive to most. How dare I talk about such a small perception, when there are so many more serious things to be insecure about as a child? However, my point is at what age do kids think, hey I don’t like how I look, etc?  When does a kid feel the first heart pangs of insecurity? And is access to digital photography making this happen faster?

Back then, during my own experience,  in the earlier part of the 90’s, we still used film. All we had were school pictures and photos our parents snapped of us. Sure there were mirrors, but nothing permanent to capture our worst fears and insecurities, as often and conveniently as kids can today. Now they have access to digital cameras on phones, point and shoots, even handheld gaming devices with a camera. Is this making children develop insecurities faster than ever in the course of human history? Combine that with social networking and it’s like an insecurity cocktail of epic proportions. Is this where the onslaught of cyber bullying is coming from?

Honestly, I have no idea. I’m not qualified to speak on the matter, nor am I a psychologist/psychiatrist/social worker/nutritionist. What I can speak of, however, is what cameras do. It would blow your mind, if you knew how many people despise having their photo taken. I’ve had people walk up to me after being in the background of a picture and demand to delete it. I’ve had people dressed in $5,000 gowns refuse a photo because they hate every picture ever taken of them. Cameras are like mirrors, the only difference is when you hate how you look in the mirror, it doesn’t capture that perception forever. A camera does.

So I guess the main question lingers. Are digital cameras making kids more insecure at a younger age than ever? Or am I just babbling on?

Not all men get the opportunity of being around large groups of women on a consistent basis. It’s part of my job per se, to do just that. I love to combine my experiences in photography with life. So here are 3 quick observations i’ve picked up, worthy of your contemplation.

1. Details Matter. When she gets a haircut and you don’t notice? That’s not cool. Not cool at all. From the jewelry, to the shoes, to the color of her nails, to the way she wears her hair, to what she’s wearing, everything is a conscious decision. Notice those things, appreciate those things. Just because you wake up, throw some hair gel in, a pair of jeans, a button up, and call it a day, doesn’t mean it’s the same way with our lovely counterparts. As a photographer, working with makeup artists, hairstylists, and stylists, i’ve learned how difficult it is to do these things. If you’re in a relationship, stop taking it for granted. Remind her how much you appreciate those small details. If you’re single, then now you know.

2. Communication is Key. I direct people when i’m shooting. Outside of professional models, the average person has to be posed or reinforced in some way to make them comfortable. A great way of establishing trust is communication. If I don’t say something or give feedback during a shoot, it feels really awkward. Some photographers demand silence, as if they are recreating the Mona Lisa. I don’t buy into that philosophy. Instead I reinforce that the pose is working, they are doing a great job, and we are getting the shots we need. It’s not to sound like the cliche stereotype photographer you see in movies, always saying “yes baby, work it, love it, you’re like a tiger stalking thru the jungle after its prey!” What i’m getting at is, carry that concept to the real world. Without communicating properly, things get misunderstood. When my communication is at it’s peak, my photographs turn out better. It’s safe to say, better communication yields better relationships.

3. Be amazed. There is no creature more special, beautiful, unique, intricate, and heart stopping on this earth than a woman. As a photographer, I not only try to capture the image, but try to capture the essence of the subject in a photo, that’s my goal. I believe the mistake many male photographers make is they assume just because something is sexual, it’s automatically better. In reality, the hot girl with barely any clothes on get’s pretty old pretty fast. The best photographers in the world, who photograph mainly females, aren’t at the top because they take the prettiest pictures. It’s because they are able to capture essence, insight, convey an idea, and appreciate the subtle beauties that escape the average person. Carrying on into the real world…I truly believe that in order to be a better person/partner, you must appreciate the beautiful subtleties that exist. Too often we lose sight of that. Appreciate women, not as objects, but as beautiful beings that are defined by their unique and subtle gifts. Without that appreciation, you’re just throwing passion out the window. And life without passion, is like lemonade without the sugar. Dull, sour, and unremarkable.

Change is one of the most difficult things, in life, to accept. We try to hold onto things, people, and our beliefs. There’s a great quote from one of my favorite authors, Dan Millman, who says:

“If you don’t get what you want, you suffer; if you get what you don’t want, you suffer; even when you get exactly what you want, you still suffer because you can’t hold on to it forever. Your mind is your predicament. It wants to be free of change. Free of pain, free of the obligations of life and death. But change is a law, and no amount of pretending will alter that reality.”

Everyday new technologies emerge, allowing the average consumer to take better photographs, with greater ease, using automated advanced techniques. The smart phone has literally shaken the world of photography and video. I constantly hear moans and groans from photographers who talk about the “old days.” How much better things used to be, how stronger the industry was, how the art of the craft turned into some joke. A newspaper photographer recently looked at me, frustrated and angry and said “It didn’t used to be this way.”

I’m tempted to join this pity party, but it’s pointless. Every industry, like life, changes. It’s inevitable. I refuse to buy into these glory day stories. I’ve grown a business in the day of automated dslr photography. But I think that’s not a bad thing. Photography brings so much joy to so many people. It allows them to express themselves, to see the world differently. I think it’s a narcissistic thing to deny anyone the joy of photography.

It’s really no different than our perspective on life itself. Relationships come and go, heartbreak puts us in an unrelenting fog, loved one’s pass away, and people move on. I wish I could hold onto those people forever. I want so badly for life to be perfect, for it to be easy. But it’s never going to be. It’s never going to change. Change is a law.

Basically, my message to photographers, who fantasize about the days sitting outside the film labs, and drinking espresso, working on looser deadlines, and fining their art over others heads is: get out of the negative and do something about it. No matter how much technology evolves, the most valuable asset no one can take away is “the photographer’s eye.” It’s something you can’t teach and you can’t buy. Our industry is not dying, it’s evolving, and it’s changing. Don’t lie in bed scared and depressed. Get out there and change the industry, offer more, do more, be unique. Being anxious, complaining, and having negative thinking has never changed anything in my entire life and it never will.

Photography is like an ex and they just found someone new. Don’t try to get them back, they are gone forever. Move on and find your path. Seriously. Get with it. The industry isn’t dying, you are. And with every breath, with every beating of your heart, you are slowing turning into dust.

I won’t let you down, I will never quit, I will be the best, and I won’t fear change.

I write this post, as I pack for a shoot, near a beautiful beach in the sun. Sounds fun right? As if we photographers scamper around in light, with beautiful models and drinking champagne long into the night. “It’s not a real job, all you do is take pictures” a man once said to me, after I told him my career. At first I was offended, as if he was attacking the notion of the stress and difficulty of selling the invisible. But after some reflection, I realized he was right. I do what you love and i’ll never work a day in my life. This comes off as brutish and insensitive, considering the suffering going on around the world, the joblessness, the day to day struggle to survive. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t save lives. When you need a triple heart bypass, i’m not the person to go to. I’m not enriching the minds of young kids, teaching them and shaping their futures. But if you think all we do is take pictures, then you need to hear something.

Lake Michigan lies desolate and frozen, after the blizzard of 2011

I don’t like to be referred to as an artist. It seems too cliche, egotistical, and snooty. What I do is see ordinary things, feel the pulse of the life and earth around me. Then I translate it into one still moment, a remarkable and sometimes unremarkable millisecond. When I look back after a few years, the memories come rushing back. My intuition floods my mind with how I felt that day, who was with me. What the freezing  ice felt like against my skin, as I lay prone on the ground, dangerously near the edge, trying to get the lake centered with the blue sky. I’m not a genius, i’m not god’s gift to the world, but i’m more passionate about what I do than anyone I know.

Now to the important part. Often we do things from our intuition, never getting the chance to re-explore how we felt at that exact moment. These days, with all the moving images bombarding our senses on websites, tv, ipads, etc, it’s a relief to see something still, unchanging. Here is how I feel looking back at this photograph.

Some will see just a lake and a sky, nothing more, nothing less. A pretty picture, click-click and onto the next on. Never taking the time to explore how it makes us feel.

Nature reflects our lives. How many of us have felt a sense of emptiness. Even if for a moment, we feel like there’s something missing in our lives. We look into the distance and we see nothing but an endless bleak plane, leading into the blackness of space on the horizon. In front of us lay cracks in the ice, one wrong step and we plunge forever into the deep cold darkness, never to be seen again. We want to reach that horizon, hoping by the time we get there, things will be different. The sun will rise and shine a golden warm light upon us, banishing the dark and cold. But the fear of failure, that fear of falling into the water and losing everything, keeps us from taking that risk. Meanwhile above us, an endless blue sky more surreal and beautiful than any man or woman could create, oversees our struggle. It’s color and majesty, so divine it feels like it doesn’t belong on this earth. No matter how high we reach, we will never touch it. We can only admire it from the ground and alternatively see the grim path ahead. The contrast is ironic and tempting. I took this picture without a single thought of why or how it would effect me. Now when I see it, I realize something made me take that photo, if only to record a rare moment.

Seeing beyond the image, is channeling your emotions into real reflection. It’s transcending the obvious and seeing with your heart thru your eyes. If your reading this and thinking “wow! this guy is deep, but isn’t he taking it a little far?” The answer is yes. It is deep and I am taking it a little far. But as I observe and record the life and nature around me, sometimes the parallels are too real to ignore.

See beyond the image.