A day with Sue Bryce

Sue Brice – glamour portrait photographer

I was able to spend a day with Sue Brice which was quite an experience.

Sue Brice is a very well known portrait photographer. In 2011 she was named photographer of the year by the AIPP (see image below). Originally from New Zealand, she is now Sydney based. She specialises in glamour portraits when she gives her clients a very special experience along with the photographs at the end of it which are quite pricy.

She used a stylist who does a full make-up and hair do starting an hour before the shoot. The client brings along 6 sets of clothing ranging from dresses up to underwear. As well Sue has a big box of fun clothes if needed.

Sue is very friendly, has the gift of the gab and continually chats to her clients with instructions as well as making them feel relaxed and feel good about themselves. She really makes the photoshoot a fantastic experience.

Sue has some instructions which she repeats continually:

‘head forward, chin slightly down, look at me’. For the model this is quiet an uncomfortable position, but it gets rid of double chins & makes eyes bigger.

Lips relaxed abd perhaps slightly parted. Definitely not pouted!

Arch back

Hands relaxed. She sometimes gets them to relax by getting them to stroke an area of the body like where the bra strap is.

There are several things she looks for when taking a portrait to make the model look good. Eg having a curved back – she says this is a female curve that is overlooked. Also she likes there often to be a triangle with body and elbow. This has the effect of making the waist look thinner & more curvy.

She had made a set of 80 or so cards explaining her poses in detail which she sells. While she is preparing for the shoot sh goes through these deciding in her mind what would suit this client.

Sue used natural light with reflactors to soften the skin. With men she doesn’t use the reflectors so they become more angular. She shoots tethered and has an assistant to hold the reflectors (sometimes the stylist does it). She uses a Canon ….. or Nikon…

She has a white studio with several areas for different photo shoots. She uses several props. She has a white chase longe and white square poof. She uses two polystyrene boxes for many sitting shots. One is 1.2m cubed; the other 30cm cubed. She very often used the white wall to lean on.

Besides being a top photographer, she is a master in marketing her product. She does it through giving away photoshoots (worth about $300) – then of course the cli,ent pays for her prints which are usually 25 of the 8x10inch ones in a box. She is always up front with what it costs so when the client arrives at the studio, they know what the cost will be. There are no negotiating when the client arrives. The beauty of this is that the client who gets the free photoshoot, shows her friends the photos & the all flock in.

While shooting, she continually is moving parts of the model eg hand or shoulder. She reckons that most photographers take the same shot over & over again. She says youknow when you have a good shot, so why redo it again & again. This way she has heaps of different shots for the client to pick from & she will buy more!

She does quite a bit of post-production. For instance if she has her client against a wall she might have saked them to curve their back & in doing this their stomach pokes out. She just slices a bit off the stomach (she swears by warp rather than liquefy). Then of course the faces are repouched a lot – not quite to the front cover of a fashion magazine though.

All in all she makes her clients look glamourous and sexy. Many strip down to thare undies. It is like she is fulfilling a dream for the client of how they would love to look.

What did I learn?

HEAPS

How to pose a subject – really many ways to do this.

What poses work & what don’t.

How to hold the head.

The arched back and the triangle with the arm.

A better understanding of marketing oneself.

Conclusion

I found the day with Sue Brice FANTASTIC. I learnt such a lot.