When I talk to people about their upcoming portrait sessions, and what ‘feeling’ they want to capture, they almost always say that they want the images to be ‘relaxed, natural, casual or informal’. For most people, what they are trying to say is that they don’t want to feel or look stiff or uncomfortable— that they want to look good but that they also want to look like themselves. Over the years, I’ve learned that words can mean vastly different things to different people. And so I spend a lot of time getting to know people before I photograph them, so that I can learn who they are and how they interpret words like natural and relaxed.

This helps me be able to make photographs of my clients where they look comfortable, and most importantly, like themselves.

Things like location and how people are dressed also play a big role in how their images turn out.

Social norms dictate how we behave - if we’re dressed in our nicest clothes, we tend to not want to do anything that would rumple them up. If we enter a party where everyone is dancing in the middle of the room, we’re more likely to join in and dance. If we enter a library and everyone is absolutely silent, we tip toe like a mouse through the aisles. As a species, one of our superpowers is reading social cues.

So, how does photoshoots change based on location? Based on dress? Based on the weather? In every way possible usually! Kids in their best clothes often go from being reserved and maybe a little awkward in front of the camera to wild things once they are in their play clothes. A formal indoor setting lends itself to lovely formal photos - while being outside in the snow leads to snowball fights and big unencumbered smiles.

I love this. It makes photography so much more than just lighting and posing. It makes the practice human, it makes it ever-changing, it makes it a craft that requires people skills mixed with technical skills— it makes it a challenge and it makes it fun!

I had the pleasure of photographing the Chung Family twice in the last year, just a couple of months apart. One, a more formal setting with family portraits. The other, playtime in the snow. The shoots were so very different and wonderful each in their own way!