What is a Pose? - It is not possible to be entirely precise, for definitions vary, the meanings change with the times and a good deal of healthy con­troversy exists.

The dictionary says it is, first, a position of the body ...an attitude. Its secondary meanings, however, have negative conno­tations of artificial appearance - placing or putting, mere affectation, pretense, rigid stance, etc.

Foreword - This book is not a compilation of 'Do's and Dont's.' It seeks to organize thought on the part of photographers, directors and mod­els as to where posing begins and how it is accomplished. Step by step, we will take the major and minor components of the posing figure and show how they function in relation to the camera - their possibili­ties and their limitations

01. Basic Body Technique - Let's free ideas that sometimes freeze when posing starts!

Has it ever happened to you? That moment when your mind stopped and you asked yourself 'Now what? Where should I be­gin?

so let's forget all else and focus our atten­tion on the body in a new light... a shadow!

02. Basic Leg Technique - In standing figures, contribute to the sup­port of the body, while in sitting and re­clining figures, they serve a more ornamen­tal purpose. Whatever their prime function, when properly posed, legs add to the natu­ral balance of the body and the design of the picture as a whole.

03. Basic Arm Technique - Can do one of two things: they can add to or detract from a picture! Legs may carry the weight of the model, but the arms carry the responsibility for balance, artistry and supporting expression.

Arms require more attention in posing because arms attract more attention in the finished picture.

04. Basic Head Technique - Must be considered photographically from two completely different aspects: i. its general form and 2. its specific expression.

First, let us consider the physical form of the head in the completed picture. It is a result, not only of the actual form of the head, but its particular view from the cam­era

05. Advanced Posing Technique - Of the body do not stem from thinking only in terms of being drastically different. True creativity is the art of doing the usual in an unusually effective fashion ... with a shade of distinction.

When this is accomplished your work has an intangible rightness and no one but a fellow creator can detect what has made it so.

06. Legs - Many variations in standing positions. Effective and individual stances are derived by combining their flexible parts in inge­nious ways

is a variable too often forgotten, for any leg position, once established, may be made to appear entirely different when the degree of separation between the legs is increased or decreased.

07. Arms - May be countless, but good photographic variations are limited both by the camera's station and the effect the picture is to pro­duce upon the viewer.

Mentally to transpose real arms (which are free to move in three dimensions) into an image of arms (which appears on the two dimensional picture surface) is diffi­cult - unless you think in terms of their limitations.

08. Head: Placement with a Purpose - Placement, with a purpose, tells a story or creates au impression for the viewer even before the face gets into the picture. As the head turns, its very outline communicates mood and prepares the viewer for the mes­sage that expression will carry. A lift of the head may suggest hope or assurance; a drop ... pensiveness or sadness; a tilt ... concentration.

09. Creativity Begins - Is an awesome word. From a vague and amorphous beginning, results are produced. Those who are gifted and wish to remain alone and unchallenged on their imperious heights, would have you believe that crea­tivity is for the chosen few and completely out of the attainable realm of the less for­tunate.

They swathe their work in an aura of mystical inspiration. They may go so far as to tell you how they accomplish their work, but like a cook with a pet recipe, they leave out some important ingredients.

THE END