Learning How to Overcome Camera Shyness

Are you camera shy?

You’ve been wanting to start a Youtube channel for some time.

But for some reason, you’ve been postponing.

Camera shyness is a real thing.

This is when you feel self-conscious during recording sessions.

Even if you are confident in other elements of communication like:

Public speaking, writing, social skills…

You may still feel awkward in front of the camera.

The good news is that camera shyness can be overcome thru practice.

But this is one of those situations where you think:

‘How am I supposed to practice if I am too nervous to get in front of the camera in the first place?’

There is an easy solution to that… which we will be discussing shortly.

We are going to cover the reason for camera shyness, how to overcome it & how to get your feet wet.

If you want it bad enough, then anything communication-related becomes a skill set that can be learned.

Even something like talking to a cold piece of machine.

Why do People get Camera Shy?

When you break it down in terms of history, man to machine communication is a rather new phenomena.

Most of our past history consisted of human to human communication.

And writing was something that changed that up.

With a camera, it’s hard to tell if you are doing things right…or doing things wrong.

A camera doesn’t laugh if a joke is funny or doesn’t boo you if you’re being boring.

Camera shyness is a problem that many of us never knew we had.

Why?

Because we aren’t often being asked to talk in front of this machine.

The truth of the matter is that everyone at one point or another was awkward in front of the camera.

They may not have been shy to put themselves out there.

But their movements were awkward to their own standards.

The whole concept of being a ‘natural,’ is a myth.

We assume people are naturals because we never saw the work they put in behind the scenes.

And if someone claims they are a natural, they probably forget their early journey.

It’s like walking.

We can now do it with the utmost confidence.

But there was a period in our lives where we kept falling, getting back up, falling & getting back up.

Those dark years?

Now a distant past.

Building a Relationship with the Camera

Do you remember how you met one of your best friends?

‘Yep! Remember it like it was yesterday.’

Do you remember how it was like in your FIRST meet up with them?

‘Not going to lie, we were both pretty stiff.’

What changed?

‘Well, we talked to each other consistently, built rapport, warmed up to each other & now we are friends.’

Exactly.

Well homie, you are going to do the same thing with the camera.

It’s time that you build a RELATIONSHIP with this machine.

Before doing that…ask yourself why?

Why do you want to develop the skillset of speaking in front of a camera?

Is it for work?

For artistic expression?

To prove to yourself that you can?

Find the WHY so it’s easier to start developing this relationship.

Otherwise, you’ll quit the minute it starts feeling awkward.

And hint hint, it will feel awkward PLENTY of times.

Warming Yourself Up with Darkness

So earlier in the post, you were wondering: how the hell am I going to get practice if I’m nervous in the first place?

It’s like when we are trying to get our first ever job.

And each manager is asking us for our job history to see if we are qualified.

Fam, how the fuck am I going to have history, if I need to be qualified to get my first job??

Well luckily, in the world of camera skills…you don’t need to publish your first videos.

These are what I call the dark sessions.

For these videos, it’s just you and your own mishaps.

Get in the habit of building that relationship.

‘What do I talk about?’

Talk about whatever you want.

You don’t want to be too strict in this phase.

What we are going for is the art of building our muscles for talking to a camera.

So attach positive emotions with this skillset. Talk to the camera like you 2 are becoming best friends.

Record & watch yourself back.

Did you hear the second part?

‘Uh…do I really have to watch myself back?’

Yes!

The whole dark stage is completely useless if you refuse to watch yourself back.

Surprisingly, you do not build your most camera confidence while recording.

You build your most camera confidence when consuming your stuff back.

Seeing yourself from a 3rd perspective allows you to break thru a lot of limiting beliefs.

It feels extremely uncomfortable in terms of physical sensations.

But push yourself thru it.

This is what the dark stage is all about.

Time to Go Live

Once you recorded a bunch of videos in the dark stage, you need to work your way to the light stage.

The light stage is when you publish your videos.

This is when you put yourself out there.

‘Damn man. Do I really have to do that part? Can I just record in my room?’

You can.

But you will never overcome camera shyness that way.

The dark stage helps you build your confidence.

But you truly step over the boundary of camera shyness the moment you hit publish.

This step is crucial because it allows you to GRADUALLY win yourself over.

‘What if others mock how I sound?’

That may happen.

Most news anchors, sports talking heads, and anyone in media has gotten a negative comment at one point or another.

Rachel Nichols is a prominent sports anchor at ESPN.

Well, Jimmy Kimmel has a section in his show where celebrities read off mean tweets they’ve gotten.

In one of the segments, Rachel read tweets commenting on how annoying her voice was.

Well, Rachel is still on ESPN.

Consistently putting out videos.

She didn’t stop cultivating her skillset at the first sight of conflict.

The point is, people are going to talk shit no matter what.

But there will also be a group of people who RESONATE with you.

And there will be a group of people who want the best for you, which is why they give you feedback.

Never equate feedback strictly with hate.

Feedback from ourselves & others will help us refine our movements over time.

The process of talking to the camera is a lifelong process.

We age like fine wine with the reps that we put in.

So go live.

Publish that video and take whatever comes.

Even though you may not notice significant changes yet, your subconscious mind heard the message loud and clear.

You’re now on the path to overcoming camera shyness.

Repetition is King

Repetition is the name of the game with camera presence.

Keep recording your videos.

Watching them back.

Learning the lessons.

And recording again.

The beauty of doing videos is that it makes you much more aware of your body language as a whole.

You’ll spot twitches, tonality principles & how to swiftly move your body.

Recording videos & publishing them is one of the best & creative ways to build self-confidence.

I recommend you find a routine that works for you & follow it to the tee.

For my YouTube channel, I record 3 videos a week. Haven’t missed a beat in over a year.

The micro-movements add up.

Even if you don’t notice the changes yet…one day you will.

And that’s when you’ll give yourself a pat on the back for recording your first videos.

The ability to speak in front of the camera will be one of the top tier skills in this information age.

Get a head start & skyrocket your digital charisma.

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– ArmaniTalks