4

The Ultimate Candid Camera

Copyright 2002, Terry Duschinski.

I felt sorry for Tanya. She was among the women gathered at a photo studio, their bathing suits under their outer clothing, ready to strip down and get in front of the camera. Tanya and the others weren’t tanning lotion models. They were middle-aged women attempting to recapture their figures of an earlier time.

The infamous BEFORE photograph was required for entry into my Fat-to-Muscle program.

I’m sure Tanya felt humiliated. Somehow, she trembled her way through the session, but her trauma and the ongoing battles with many other camera-shy clients wore down my resolve. Eventually, I dropped the requirement.

It was the worst business decision I have ever made. And if you skip this step, it will result in a very bad outcome for you too.

Of this I can assure you -- if you don’t get in front of a camera, even if it’s only one in the private setting of your home, you won’t do nearly as well as you could have in this program. The men and women who submitted to the photograph achieved much better results than those who bypassed this important step.

Apply yourself to this program fully. If you try to decide for yourself the merit of each step along the way, you’ll skip things you’re not capable of appreciating. This is why you’re receiving outside assistance. If you don’t need our help, you’d probably already be in good shape, wouldn’t you? Please suspend your judgment, and trust ours.

I’ve learned painfully well the importance of bringing someone face-to-face with their uncovered, uncamouflaged body, viewed from the front, side, and rear.

Before dropping the photo requirement, I should have remembered what Marilyn told me. “You never see yourself from the rear,” Marilyn said, looking at her photograph in which her back was to the camera. “That really made an impact on me.”

How often do most of us we really see ourselves, from any angle? It is more than likely that our self-portrait mental image is from an earlier time. Our slippage is a slow and steady process that we hardly notice. The pictures are not merely for shock effect, but they function as an audit – a realistic assessment of our condition.

Standardized, repeatable photos are an important benchmark and subsequent measuring tool. They visually document our current situation, and later measure our improvement

We’ll discuss one other significant benchmark in the next segment. You may think I’m referring to the bathroom scale, but I’m not. You’ll see in a minute, but right now let’s concentrate on photos.

You’ve probably noticed that I’ve used the word standardize repeatedly. When it comes to photo comparisons, all of the following have to be identical every time:

The camera. The camera height. The camera distance. The lighting. The background, which should be plain, uncluttered, and a subdued color. Write down everything relating to how the photo was taken.

Standardization also applies to your clothing, your hairstyle, and your adornment, and your various body positions. Even the distance apart you set your feet and arms needs to be identical each time. I’d suggest placing a telephone book on the floor and place your feet right beside it in the front and back photos. Either let your arms hang straight with your hands about four inches away from your hips, or place them on top of your head with your fingers locked together.

(Note: in the Fat-to-Muscle Makeover, we take virtually painless photos ... in private ... that only you see ... wearing whatever is comfortable for you)

For the side photo, let your arms hang directly at your side, resting your hand on your hip. Keep your feet together in this photo, and make sure one leg is directly behind the other in the camera lens; so that the photographer sees only one leg. You may have to rotate your hips slightly to accomplish this.

Photo comparisons – before and after – should have only one thing in them that’s different. That’s your body. Everything else has to be the same each and every time.

Back in the days that Tanya experienced her panic attack, I insisted my clients wear a bathing suit in photos, and preferably women in a two-piece suit so that the mid-drift is exposed. After all, the more the camera is able to capture, the more detailed the eventual comparison.

Certainly within your home, with a spouse or close friend serving as photographer, a bathing suit or even your under garments seems reasonable. However, if lighting and set standardization are impossible to achieve at home, you may want to contact a professional studio. Make sure the photographer understands that he or she has to replicate the setup exactly at subsequent sessions, requiring the photographer to record camera position, settings, lighting, and so forth. Impress upon the photographer the importance of standardization.

If you’re too shy for a bathing suit photo, wear a leotard or something that exposes at least your shape, if not your skin. A man’s gym pants should be the short, tight kind basketball players wore 20 years ago, not the bloomers they’re wearing now.

Remember that the more you show, the greater value your photos. Don’t think you’ll wear a warm-up suit in your BEFORE photos and then a bikini after you’ve lost 6 inches off your midsection. Whatever you wear in the first photo is your entire in all subsequent photos unless your body shrinks so much it can no longer support the garment.

Studies show that “self monitoring” issues make or break endeavors such as this. There is a national physique transformation contest that has been run a couple of years, for which BEFORE and AFTER photos are necessary. I read an article by one of the participants indicating that only 10 percent of those who supply a BEFORE photo to enter the contest follow through with an AFTER photo and complete the contest.

Like anything else, the average person won’t do it. Don’t be average; be among the 10 percent.