When you are thinking of getting a professional photo shoot, questions immediately flood your mind.

Should I wait until I lose a few more pounds?

What is the difference between a professional photo and the hundreds of selfies I have on my phone?

Am I too self-conscious to let a stranger take pictures of me?

It’s part of my job to ask questions. For about eight years I was a journalist and now as a content creator for clients, I need to ask the right questions to craft a compelling story.

During the initial phone call with Brenda Jankowski (which was her request, I would do everything over email) she answered the questions before I had the opportunity to ask most of them. It wasn’t a rehearsed script to preempt my questions, though. It was Brenda telling me about photo shoots, other women’s experiences, and how I can best prepare for my photo shoot.

At the end of the phone call with Brenda, I didn’t have any questions. Instead, I felt the same butterflies-in-my-stomach when you know you have an amazing date coming up. I added three things to me pre-photo shoot list to prepare.

1) Believe that you deserve it

The nagging questions you asked yourself may still persist after your initial call with Brenda. They did for me.

“Maybe I should push it back a month. Should I do a juice cleanse the week of? Do I have the perfect outfit?”

Stop. I haven’t had my photo session yet and an amazing added benefit is it forced me to realize how harsh these questions are (am I pretty enough?/skinny enough/have the perfect outfit). I was waiting for a personal eclipse and setting extremely unrealistic (and fleeting) standards.

I scrolled though the photos on my phone. Of the thousands, I would only think about printing and framing a handful. It’s time I saw a professional.

2) Go shopping

Not because you need a wardrobe but to see if anything catches your eye. For me, the majority of the clothes I’m planning to bring to my photo shoot, I’ve had in my closet. A few weeks before the photo shoot, I planned a Happy Hour/shopping night with my best friend. We walked around the King of Prussia Mall not with a mission to find the perfect outfit, but to see if anything (shoes, shirts, jeans, dresses, jewelry) fit the vision for my photo shoot. If it didn’t – no worries. I planned to come back a week before my shoot (and I had some things waiting in my online shopping cart as backups).