In a studio portrait session of one hour, it is relatively easy to get my subject sufficiently relaxed to make great portraits. Doing so when I am only with them for two or three minutes is much more challenging.
I regularly do ‘headshot’ sessions for corporate clients, where I spend half a day photographing the entire staff team, one after the other. And for the third year in a row the Business Club VUB recently asked me to attend its annual Job Fair to make headshots of attendees for thir CVs and their LinkedIn profiles.
At the Job Fair, I shot 56 people in approximately three hours – an average around three minutes per person. But there were some gaps, too, so I suppose I actually spent closer to two minutes with each subject. And my method – apart from the lighting set-up and the camera settings – was essentially a highly compressed version of the way I organise a full studio session:
I told each person my first name, and asked them for theirs.
I offered my hand to be shaken, and looked at them directly.
In the busy Job Fair, I tried to create a feeling of privacy and intimacy in my pop-up studio.
I chatted as I took pictures, encouraging my subjects to relax and to move gently in front of the camera.
I guided them gently into easy poses – “Bring your other shoulder towards me.” “Lower your chin slightly.”
I showed them the portraits I’d made, and offered to make more if they wanted.
What struck me forcibly was the strength of my subjects’ reactions when they saw the portraits I’d made. As members of a generation that needs no excuse to take selfies at every moment, most of them seemed to recognise that I had managed to achieve something different. They were delighted and amazed.