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Portrait sessions · one hour
Almost everybody hates this. That's the normal starting position.
Not a reassurance — a working assumption, and the session is built around it. The first ten minutes are wasted on purpose, you don't look down the lens until later, and there is a chair.
What actually happens
The first ten minutes — Wasted on purpose. Tea, and a few frames nobody will ever see, so the camera stops being an event
You won't look at the lens — Not at first. Looking slightly off it is easier, and it is where most of the good frames come from anyway
There is a chair — Standing with nothing to do with your hands is what makes people look like they hate it. Sitting solves most of that
You'll be told what to do — Constantly, and specifically. "Relax" is not an instruction — "turn your shoulders and look at the window" is
It takes an hour — Of which about twenty minutes is photography. The rest is what makes those twenty minutes work
You won't look at the lens — Not at first. Looking slightly off it is easier, and it is where most of the good frames come from anyway
There is a chair — Standing with nothing to do with your hands is what makes people look like they hate it. Sitting solves most of that
You'll be told what to do — Constantly, and specifically. "Relax" is not an instruction — "turn your shoulders and look at the window" is
It takes an hour — Of which about twenty minutes is photography. The rest is what makes those twenty minutes work
Swap these for your own set. Portraits read better four across than three — the faces stay large enough to be worth looking at.
What gets retouched, and what doesn't
Always done — Dust on the lens, a stray hair across your face, and the colour balanced so your skin is your skin
Done if you ask — A spot that wasn't there last week, a mark you'd rather not keep, tired eyes after a bad night
Never done without asking — Your body shape, your skin texture, your teeth, your nose, your lines. None of it, unless you say so
You can ask for more — And that is a completely reasonable thing to want. Nobody here is going to be sniffy about it
You can also ask for less — Which surprises people. "Leave my grey in" and "don't touch the lines" are both normal requests and both are easy
What I won't do — Change somebody who isn't in the room to be asked. Children and other people's partners get dust and colour, and nothing else
Done if you ask — A spot that wasn't there last week, a mark you'd rather not keep, tired eyes after a bad night
Never done without asking — Your body shape, your skin texture, your teeth, your nose, your lines. None of it, unless you say so
You can ask for more — And that is a completely reasonable thing to want. Nobody here is going to be sniffy about it
You can also ask for less — Which surprises people. "Leave my grey in" and "don't touch the lines" are both normal requests and both are easy
What I won't do — Change somebody who isn't in the room to be asked. Children and other people's partners get dust and colour, and nothing else
Sessions
Short
$180 · 30 minutes
- One look, one background
- 8 edited images at full size
- Files within a week
- Print them anywhere you like
Standard
$320 · one hour
- Two or three looks
- 20 edited images at full size
- Files within a week
- The one most people book
Family or group
$450 · 90 minutes
- Up to six people
- Everybody together and separately
- 30 edited images at full size
- Longer because children set the pace
Extra images — $15 each, from the same session, whenever you want them. There is no expiry on that
Prints — At cost plus a fifth. You are also free to print them yourself, and plenty of people do
A framed print — From $70 depending on size. Priced here on the page rather than shown to you in a room
A reshoot — Free once, if you don't like them. That is set out in full below and it is not a slogan
What there isn't — A viewing appointment where you sit in a dim room and get sold a package. That is the industry's worst habit and it doesn't happen here
Prints — At cost plus a fifth. You are also free to print them yourself, and plenty of people do
A framed print — From $70 depending on size. Priced here on the page rather than shown to you in a room
A reshoot — Free once, if you don't like them. That is set out in full below and it is not a slogan
What there isn't — A viewing appointment where you sit in a dim room and get sold a package. That is the industry's worst habit and it doesn't happen here
If you don't like them
Say so — By message, with no preamble. "I don't like these" is a complete sentence and it isn't rude
Reshoot once, free — Different day, different clothes, usually a different result — because it is nearly always about how the day went
Or a refund — Of the session fee, less the time already spent. Written here plainly so nobody has to negotiate it in the moment
How often this happens — About once a year. Almost always it is about how somebody felt that morning rather than about the pictures
What helps — Telling me at the time. Most of a session that is going badly is fixable in the room, if I know it is going badly
What doesn't help — Deciding you'll get used to them. You won't, and you'll have paid for something you don't want
Reshoot once, free — Different day, different clothes, usually a different result — because it is nearly always about how the day went
Or a refund — Of the session fee, less the time already spent. Written here plainly so nobody has to negotiate it in the moment
How often this happens — About once a year. Almost always it is about how somebody felt that morning rather than about the pictures
What helps — Telling me at the time. Most of a session that is going badly is fixable in the room, if I know it is going badly
What doesn't help — Deciding you'll get used to them. You won't, and you'll have paid for something you don't want
What to wear
Solid colours
Patterns fight with faces, and a strong one is what the eye lands on instead of you. Plain wins nearly every time.
Nothing brand new
New clothes sit oddly and you'll be aware of them the whole hour. Something you've worn a lot photographs better.
Bring two options
Change halfway through. It costs five minutes and it doubles what there is to choose from at the end.
Layers help
A jacket on and off is two different pictures. It also gives your hands something to do, which matters more than it sounds.
However you normally look
If you don't usually wear makeup, don't start today. The aim is a picture people recognise as you.
Shoes count
They're in more of the frame than anybody expects, especially seated. Comfortable and plain is the whole rule.
★★★★★
“I told him on the phone I'd hated every photograph of me since 1998. He said that was the usual starting point and then just got on with it. There's one on the wall now.”
H. Vance
Standard session
★★★★★
“I asked her to leave my grey alone and she said good, and did exactly that. It genuinely hadn't occurred to me you were allowed to ask for less.”
M. Ferreira
Portrait for work
Book a session
Tell me roughly when, and what it's for. You'll get a straight answer about dates and nothing else — no sequence of emails and no call you didn't ask for.
Book a session
"I hate it" is the most-picked answer to the third question, and it changes how the hour runs — more talking at the start, and the camera comes out later than it otherwise would.
Live preview — every color, word and block is editable after you pick it.