The Portrait Session
A portrait session is quiet, focused, and unrushed. We begin with a conversation about the kind of portrait you want, where the image may live, and how you want to be seen.
The session itself is simple: controlled light, a clean setting, direct attention, and enough time to settle in. The goal is to move past the forced expression most people bring to a camera and work toward something more natural, direct, and specific.
You do not need to know how to pose. You do not need to perform. I will guide the session slowly and carefully, looking for the moment when the portrait begins to feel like you.
Discuss a Portrait SessionBefore the session
We will talk briefly about the purpose of the portrait, the kind of finished image you have in mind, and where the portrait may eventually be seen or displayed. This helps shape the tone of the session without overplanning it.
Clothing, background, lighting, and expression all matter, but none of them need to be complicated. The best choices are usually simple, honest, and specific to the person being photographed.
During the session
The studio is quiet and direct. There is no need to arrive with a performance ready. We will work slowly, make adjustments, talk, pause, and continue until the image begins to feel right.
Most people relax once they realize the session is not about posing perfectly. It is about attention, patience, and making a small number of strong images with care.
After the session
After the session, we review the strongest images and choose the one that should become the finished portrait. The final image is carefully prepared so it can live as a print, not just as another file on a phone or computer.
The aim is one portrait with presence — an image made with enough care to hold attention over time.
Session information
Portrait sessions begin at $700 and include the session itself, careful editing of the strongest images, and one finished portrait printed, matted in an 8-ply mat, and presented in a photo box ready for framing. Sessions are made in Guilford, Connecticut, in a quiet studio setting designed for direct, carefully considered portraits.
Additional finished portraits and print options can be discussed before or after the session.