A pose for all seasons

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Celebrities stand before a camera more often than they do before a mirror. Public events, private parties, shopping — they cannot escape the autograph hunters or the paparazzi. Like it or not, they have to deal with the camera, and pose for it gamely.

Posing on the silver screen is their job, it gives scope to express a range of emotions, but when it comes to posing for a photographer, there are only that many ways you can appear. Actresses usually universally adopt the cross-legged stance, one hand on the hip, the other touching the thigh. From Scarlett Johansson to Trisha, everybody poses that way. But there is not much more you can do on the red carpet — though Angelina Jolie did add a memorable flaunt of her toned right leg at last year’s Oscars.
Fashion photographer Karthik Srinivasan has found that “Actresses play it safe with their poses and a single pose usually works well. They have been models who know what pose and angles to use to look good. Sometimes, they themselves ask the photographer to take a picture in a particular way.”
Actors too have some interesting things to do in front of the camera and some have their signature pose sorted. For example, Gautham Karthik does a thumbs up almost all the time and Premji Amaren always comes up with the hip-hop ‘yo’ poses. Body language expert Zane Cuxton says, “Any person showing his or her thumb — either as a thumbs up or four fingers in the pockets and the thumbs out — means they are feeling confident.”