Bobby Yeoman grew up as a self-described ugly duckling. Self-conscious amidst her loud, outgoing, uninhibited, small town family, Bobby evolved into a beautiful, confident woman who finally abandoned her fears of what people would think of her when she had children. Now, with her business, Wild Rose Photography, Bobby encourages her clients to let go of their fears, relax, and be true to themselves in the moment. “I try to show them just how beautiful they really are because I think that, especially in today’s day and age, that’s a really hard thing for people to grab on to – to feel that way about themselves,” she says. “[As a photographer], I am in control of showing them who they really are, not who they think they are.”
Bobby takes this duty of revealing people to themselves very seriously, making sure that during each session, she takes a moment to show clients the back of her camera, to show them how lovely they are. “As soon as you do that, they don’t worry so much,” she says.
Essentially, Wild Rose Photography is about “creating something beautiful together,” says Bobby. Looking for the natural, unbridled beauty that “shines through when people are unguarded and not worried about society and its standards,” Bobby creates opportunities for clients to forget themselves when they are not thinking about how the photos will turn out. “When I’m trying to come up with poses for my clients, I really try to think about what kind of in-between moments we can get,” she says. “How can I pose them and then make their interaction with each other completely genuine and authentic? Where they’re doing something because it’s them and that’s how they do things.”
To do this, Bobby throws her own inhibitions to the wind and encourages others to let go by being utterly ridiculous herself. For example, she’ll ask them to share their biggest, fakest laugh possible and when they all look at her awkwardly, she’ll demonstrate. Her approach inevitably captures authenticity from the bride throwing her head back in a wide, open-mouthed laugh to the groom’s playful smirk.
