Portraits, Photographs and People
One of the biggest joys of being a portrait photographer in London is that you get to meet all sorts of people from time to time in varying locations, events and times.
Some of them are your direct clients, some aren’t : some you don’t know, some you do! But in all of these experiences, it forces you to learn to communicate with and love people.
When I started shooting portraits actively in the studio, my biggest challenge wasn’t the lights, the science or making the money but rather getting the best out of people. It was about getting them to understand what I wanted to shoot and to get that out of their faces, their posture and their body language.
Take this image for example of Sasha 
From the word go, It wasn’t intended to be the typical portrait session. It was actually for another job she had to do with her friends but somehow I managed to get them to do individual Headshots
The challenge really is getting people to loosen up. For the most part, It’s easy but 9 times out of 10 times, its not. Don’t get me wrong, different clients have differing personalities but a one-fits-all approach doesn’t work either.
When I started shooting Studio Portraits, I shot with mostly Models (who knew what to do without much direction) as this picture shows 
but when you move to corporate photography or just Portraits of everyday people, the story changes dramatically.
You start to realize that posing for photos is not natural for most of us neither do many people find taking instructions from a perfect stranger completely easy.
So breaking the ice, making people comfortable, being a chatter box (knowing what to say and what not to say matters too), telling them what to do and showing them how they look almost immediately changes everything.
Women can tend to complain about things that you might not think is important eg making them look FAT; showing their wrinkles or fold and many more. Men might be concerned about the bald patch or their double chin or not just bothered. In all I am learning that its more of an art than a science to work with people in the studio or groups of people in the studio
At the end of the day, you just have to love people for who they are to be an amazing portrait photographer!
It’s not just about shooting great pictures but about making them feel great about the entire experience from inception to completion.
I ran into a gentleman last friday in the restaurant and immediately I feel in love with his looks. I couldn’t help myself but approach him and introduce myself as a portrait photographer in London and I left him my business card. Hopefully he calls me at some point; but it shows how much I have fallen in love with people, their faces, hair, body shapes and peculiarities
Thanks for reading this and hopefully someday, I would be in the same room with you, taking images great images of you.
Have a great day
