Guided Portraits

You are a story. And a portrait is a wordless version of that story with no beginning, no middle, and no end, There is no arc to the now. If you look at your portrait, and assign to it moments from the past and future yet to come, you will be distorting it, and may not like what you see. It’s human nature to create some sort of Gestalt composed of memories and expectations but that is wholly unnecessary and potentially counterproductive. Your portrait is a slice of the now. And by the time you even see it, it is in the past.

Part of my job is to take the picture. But another part is to help you to interpret it. When I see your photograph I see beauty, no matter what you see. I have no filters, I create no story where none exists. Unfortunately I can’t be there for every person when they see their photo for the first time, but that’s the kind of photography I want to be doing. I hesitate to call it therapeutic. Let’s call it guided. The whole experience, from the moment we meet through the moment you see yourself as seen through my camera should be like a session we go through together.

That’s time-consuming and I understand not everyone can do that. But I want you to know that I offer that. I can even come to you to deliver the photos in person if that would help you. We can look at the photos together, I can give you my favorites and we can tweak lighting and tone together. Because you’re not just hiring me for my skills as a photographer, you’re hiring me because of the kind of person I am.