studio

The power of the unposed portrait

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I make a lot of posed portraits – wedding photos, company headshots, studio portraits. This year, I have probably photographed more than 500 people in this way. I love the work, and my clients are almost always delighted with the results. But I believe that the portraits I make in less formal settings – above all when the subject is unaware of the camera – reach another level of artistic interest, even when they are less than perfect from a technical point of view.

Why is this? I think it’s because most people put on a special ‘look’ in front of the camera, even when they are trying not to. Selfies are an extreme case, of course, but have you noticed that the pictures people make of themselves don’t really look much like them at all? The facial expressions they adopt when they are thinking about the images that are being captured mask their thoughts and feelings, and therefore hide their real personalities.

As a portrait photographer, it is always the real person – in all his or her complexity – that I am trying to see. People are never so interesting or so beautiful as when they believe themselves to be unobserved, when their thoughts are turned inward, allowing their emotions to play freely across their faces.

In the 1950s, American photographer Harry Callahan photographed women on the streets of Chicago, and produced a body of work entitled ‘Women Lost in Thought’. I don’t know why he chose to focus only on women, but I suspect that like me what interested him was the ‘interiority’ of their faces.

I also enjoy photographing people on the street, but I shoot people in other situations, too. I’ve made portraits of long-distance runners which have an extraordinary ethereal quality. And I’ve shot a series of images of couples dancing which I also like very much. Whether they are running or dancing, these people‘s faces speak in a very direct way of the sensations of effort or pleasure in which they are immersed.

Making unposed portraits has informed and enriched my formal portrait work as well. I’ve learned to see, and even to anticipate, the right instant to release the shutter. And I’ve learned to distract my subjects from thinking about how they look by chatting with them, or by getting them to do something such as putting on a leather jacket. I’m pretty sure it’s in these moments, when they are thinking of something other than the portrait, that the best portraits are made.

Studio portrait magic

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Nearly half of all my completed photo shoots so far this year have been done in the studio, up from just 15% in 2019. In part, this can be explained by the coronavirus crisis – there is simply much less of other kinds of work such as corporate events. But after only four months of full activity (all bookings from mid-March to the end of June were cancelled), I’ve already done more studio shoots than in the whole of 2019.

I don’t think I’m encouraging this trend myself. My personal preference is actually for environmental portraiture shot in the subject’s home or office, in a park or in the street. But I am coming to appreciate the ‘purity’ of a studio portrait session. And perhaps potential clients visiting this site like the examples that I post here, and want the same look themselves.

My studio is in the attic of my home. I welcome my clients at the front door and usually offer them a glass of water or a cup of coffee. Then we climb the stairs to the studio. As we sit to catch our breath, I open a conversation.

Very few people expect to enjoy being in front of the camera. Most of us are self-conscious about some aspect of our appearance, and we are all self-conscious about our selves. It’s not easy to be looked at so intensely, especially by a stranger. Chatting quietly for five or ten minutes before we start to shoot provides a basis for trust to grow between us. (“The photographer seems okay. He’s interested in me. He’s listening to what I want.”) My aim is to create a mood in which the subject no longer feels afraid, accepts to work with me, and finally opens willingly to my gaze.

We discuss different clothing options, positions and backgrounds. Quite often, people expect me to direct the entire shoot. “You’re the professional. Just tell me what to do.” I explain to the subject that I will need their active collaboration. I will take care of the light, the focus and the depth of field. But I can’t control their facial expression. Just ordering someone to relax can have quite the opposite effect. And telling them to smile usually produces an unnatural grimace. I give hints (“try resting your weight on one leg as if you were waiting in a queue”). I encourage the subject to move, to try different angles and positions. I tell them when I see an expression or a position that works well, and from time to time I show them the photograph I’ve just taken. The session becomes a kind of game that we are playing together.

Especially if someone gets ‘frozen’ in a particular pose, it’s important to take frequent short breaks. I will take the opportunity to adjust my lighting set-up, and let the client check their face and clothes in the mirror. If they have been standing, I may suggest trying some seated shots. When we start again, muscles have relaxed and thoughts have moved on. We can make a fresh start.

Almost always, something magical happens at least once in the course of a studio session. The subject’s thoughts and feelings, all the tiny muscles around his or her eyes and mouth, my hands controlling the angle of the camera and my finger releasing the shutter, all line up in such a way that the photons of light bouncing off the face, passing through the lens and hitting the sensor’s 45 million pixels produce an image to which the only response is “Wow!”