We like growing with our clients. Whether it is a business who sends new staff for their headshot photo on the company website or a professional on the job market updating his LinkedIn profile photo, we value the relationship and trust they have on our ability to deliver believable and respectable headshots.
Ideally, we do want to take our relationship with our clients further than professional headshots. Our experience in this unforgiving genre of photography has enabled us to evolve into a family portrait photographer that endeavours to re-present each person as the best versions of their everyday self.
Here is a family who has journeyed with us from headshots to portraits. The husband and wife were about to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. Since they have had experience with us with headshots in the past, they were keen to have a family portrait with a bit of 'attitude' if you may to show that the kids have grown. Here it is below.
How is it possible that each person looked engaged and as people have told us, each looked great. Well, we took headshots of the same family in 2014. The knowledge of what looks good for a person and the ability to draw out the personality of the person contributed to each family member's headshot photo as seen below.
Family portrait sessions, like headshot sessions, are both a science and an art.
It is a science because there is a process in finding the best angle of each person on the photo. The good side of each face is showcased through sound and intentional lighting and coaching for the right expression. During the shoot, there were quite a number of discussions on what looks good per member of the family. After all, each has to be happy with their photo as the portrait images will be framed for all to see.
It is an art because there has to be a cohesion to the image. Family portraits is similar to a jigsaw puzzle such that each person has to be carefully positioned in a way that makes the person look good while contributing to the overall beauty of the image. In so doing, the family portrait feels like the complete image with much respect given to the whole as well as each part.
For this family, they chose another image that is more traditional than the first photo but equally engaging as the first. The photo is the one below.
Some people say that there is no art in headshot photos - especially corporate ones. In the same breath, some view family portraits as taking few snaps by the beach and already define it as a portrait. Wikipedia defines a portrait in this manner:
A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. For this reason, in photography a portrait is generally not a snapshot, but a composed image of a person in a still position. A portrait often shows a person looking directly at the painter or photographer, in order to most successfully engage the subject with the viewer. (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portrait)
The headshot photo and the family portrait both fall within the portrait definition. The person or the people are the heroes of the image - not the props nor the backdrop. More importantly, each person is done justice because his or her personality is highlighted and celebrated.
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