Fit Photographer | Posture

Welcome to the newest addition of Ciccarelli Photography. The Fit Photographer. What is the fit Photographer? What does it mean? We're glad you asked. It's for Photographers and anyone interested in feeling better and preforming better. Wether we're talking about posture, food, working out, sleep, stress or general movement. The whole idea has to do with being a better human.As humans our genes haven't changed over the years, our society has changed. We used to be hunting, gathering, building, pushing, pulling, etc. Now it's 2013 and things are easier. Everything is done on the computer. How do we use the computer? While we SIT. How do we watch TV? While we SIT. How do we drive? While we SIT. Our activities involve us in the sitting position. When we sit our backs round, shoulder rotate forward, our lower back carries tension while our hips are in a flexed position.Organization of the Spine - Setting yourself up for success is always key. We tend to forget standing and sitting are important. We are in those two positions so much that it's easy to forget what it truly feels like to be in our own body throughout the day. As a photographer, we are standing all the time. Literally.Remember, set yourself up for success. To do that we need to be set correctly. Getting set correctly means organizing yourself while standing and sitting. What we will focus on is organizing our spines.To get yourself organized correctly here are some key tips:1. Pull your ribcage into your spine (some people like the phrase pull your bellybutton in, I prefer ribcage)2. Squeeze your butt (glutes).What you've done is set your spine. You just put your spine into it's neutral, happy position. Set your spine before you're about to do something. Workout, stand, cook, photograph. I like to refer to smoking in this situation. When you smoke cigattees you don't see the consequesces right away. But when the consequences show up, they aren't fun at all. It's the same way with our posture. You may not notice the movement patterns you have when you go through your everyday activities, but when a shoulder is aching or a low back is screaming, we wonder what it could be. Our bodies are amazing. They figure out a way to get the job done even with a kink in the system. But time will run out and they break down. Set yourself up for success!The photo on the left is an overextended spine. It's putting a ton of pressure on my lumbar spine. I've also eliminated the use of my abdominal muscles. On the right I used the steps from above to set my spine.Standing and sitting are the same situation. Before you're about to stand for awhile (we stand for about 8 hours on the day of a wedding) organize yourself and be conscientious of your body.We hope you enjoyed this new segment!~Erik & Marissa