From street to portrait: what happens when you really meet someone?
I walk through a city. That is where much of my photography begins. I look around me, observe people, wait for moments. Street photography does not ask for control but for attention. I react to what happens. A gesture, a glance, a shadow that falls exactly right. I press the shutter and the moment suddenly exists in a photo as well.
What always fascinates me about street photography is that it is often a meeting without a meeting. I photograph someone who does not meet me. That person walks through their day, perhaps on the way to work, home, an appointment. For them nothing special is happening. For me an image appears that I find interesting.
Our lives cross for a fraction of a second.
The beauty of street photography
That is exactly the beauty of street photography. It is about observing people. About small stories playing out without anyone being aware of them. About the city as a stage where everyone plays their own part.
When I give street photography workshops, I notice that many photographers respond to this at once. They discover that photography is less about settings and equipment than they thought. It is about looking. About patience. About trusting your intuition.
You walk, look, wait. And sometimes everything falls together. But while I work that way for years, I also notice my curiosity slowly shifting. Not away from people, but closer towards them.
On the street I observe someone. I make a photo. Then I walk on. In many cases we never speak. The photo exists, but the meeting does not. And that is exactly where my interest in portrait photography starts.
Business portraits in seven minutes
When someone comes to me for a business portrait, the process starts differently. We shake hands. We make small talk. Sometimes someone tells me why they need the photo. For LinkedIn, for a website, for an article.
On average I have about seven minutes. Seven minutes to put someone at ease. Seven minutes to get a conversation going. Seven minutes to make a relaxed, professional portrait.
That seems little time, but it is precisely that tempo that makes it interesting. I look, listen, ask a question, maybe make a joke. Slowly the tension people often feel with a camera pointed at them disappears.
Then comes a moment when someone briefly forgets they are being photographed. And exactly then I make the portrait. That too is ultimately about meeting. Only in a faster form. And yet I notice a third way of photographing appearing in my work. A way in which time suddenly plays no part at all.
Out of that comes PAUSE.
PAUSE, your truthful portrait
At PAUSE, photography does not start with lights or with a camera. It starts with a conversation. We take the time. Sometimes we talk for an hour, sometimes longer. About work, about choices, about moments in a life that mattered. About doubts, ambitions, things on someone’s mind.
I listen.
Slowly a calm settles. The camera is already there, but has no part to play yet. The flashes stay off. First we get to know each other. Not as photographer and client, but simply as two people in a conversation.
And somewhere in that process something remarkable happens.
The tension goes. The posture changes. There is nothing left to act out. There is no hurry, no pressure to look “good in the photo” straight away.
Only then do I switch my flashes on.
A different portrait
The portrait that appears after that feels different. Calmer. More truthful. Not because it is technically different, but because the meeting actually took place.
Looking back at my own development I really see one line running through everything. Whether I am photographing on the street, making a business portrait or inviting someone for a PAUSE session: it is always about people.
About curiosity as to who someone is.
Street photography starts with looking at people. Portrait photography goes a step further and makes room for a brief meeting. And in PAUSE I give that meeting the time it needs.
A portrait with attention
Perhaps that is ultimately what photography is about for me. Not only making images, but attention. Really seeing someone.
If street photography makes you curious about people and you want to learn how to recognise those moments in the street, then I invite you to come along on one of my workshops. There we start with the looking.
And if you are curious about what happens when you stand still for a moment, when you take time for a conversation and a portrait that really shows something of you, then PAUSE may be exactly what the name says.
A moment to stand still.
And see yourself again.
See you soon?
