The Portrait Is a Negotiation

A portrait is never taken. It is given, briefly, and usually on conditions that are never spoken out loud. The person in front of the lens is deciding, second by second, how much of themselves to hand over.

I stopped shooting the first five minutes of any session. Not because the frames are bad, but because they belong to the version of the person who is still performing calm.

The rest is technical: one light, one lens, and enough silence that the room starts to feel awkward. Awkward is where the honest expressions live.