GREAT PHOTOGRAPHY STARTS BEFORE THE CAMERA - My portrait process
The photograph begins long before you press the shutter.
A portrait shoot doesn’t begin when I pick up my camera. It begins much earlier. Sometimes days before the actual shoot. With a message. A conversation. A moodboard. An idea. And sometimes, with a simple question: „What do you actually want to create?“
01 – The first contact is already part of the photograph
Before I meet someone, there is often already an exchange. A client might send me a moodboard. Maybe they have collected photographs they like. Maybe they’ve seen something on Instagram or Pinterest and say: “I want something like this.”
And that’s completely fine. But I don’t think my job is simply to reproduce what someone has already seen. If a client shows me an idea, I want to understand why they like it. And then I want to take it further. Maybe I have seen something internationally that they haven’t come across yet. Maybe there is another approach that would suit them even better. Maybe we can take their original idea and push it somewhere completely different. That’s part of being a photographer. You’re not just there to execute an idea. You’re there to contribute one.
02 – I don’t want to just take your pictures
For me, a portrait shoot is a creative collaboration. The client brings an idea. I bring experience. And hopefully, I bring something they didn’t expect. That’s where the interesting part begins. Because if someone already knows exactly what they want, my job isn’t necessarily to say: “Perfect. Let’s do exactly that.” Sometimes my job is to say: “That’s a great starting point. But let me show you something else.” I think that’s one of the responsibilities of a photographer. To look beyond what the client already knows. To think outside the obvious. To bring ideas to the table.
03 – Then we met
When the person finally stands in front of me, something changes. Until then, I’m working with an idea of them. Now there is an actual person in front of me. And I need to pay attention. One of the simplest questions I can ask is: “How are you today?” It sounds almost too simple. But the answer tells me a lot. Are they nervous? Are they excited? Are they happy? Are they tired? Are they completely relaxed? Are they already full of energy? You can feel these things. And you need to notice them. Because I can have the perfect moodboard, the perfect lighting idea and the perfect plan. But if the person standing in front of me doesn’t feel right in that situation, none of it matters.
04 – Meet people where they are
I believe strongly in having a plan. I want the client to know that I know what I’m doing. I explain the rough direction. I know where we are going. I don’t want someone standing in front of my camera wondering what is happening next. But at the same time, I don’t want to become a prisoner of my own plan. Because I don’t know this person. At least not yet. And they are seeing me for the first time, too. So there has to be room to adapt. I meet people where they are.
05 – The moldboard is not the law
This is probably one of the biggest mistakes I see photographers make. They create a moodboard. They build a plan. And then they become determined to recreate it. No matter what happens. But we’re working with people. And people are unpredictable. Maybe the clothes they brought don’t work the way we imagined. Maybe they don’t feel comfortable in them. Maybe the weather changes. Maybe the location doesn’t work. Maybe the person has completely different energy from what we expected. Maybe the photograph we planned simply isn’t the photograph this person needs. So what? Change the plan. That’s not failure. That’s photography.
06 – Staying static is the real mistake
A photograph isn’t created by stubbornly following a plan. It’s created by responding to what is actually happening. I might look at the person and think: This isn’t working. So I change the light. I change the location. I change the clothes. I change the direction. Maybe I completely change the idea. And suddenly something much better happens. Something that wasn’t on the moodboard. Something we couldn’t have planned. That’s where photography becomes interesting.
07 – Time is part of the process
Of course, there is also a practical side to all of this. Time is money. I don’t want to waste my client’s time by endlessly discussing what we might do. I want them to know: I’ve got this. Here’s the plan. Let’s start. And then we work. The relationship, the trust and the creative process develop while we’re actually doing it. That’s where things start to open up. And usually, at some point, I show them an image. The right image. The one where I know: This is it. And suddenly they see what I saw. “Wow.” “Is that really me?” And from that moment, everything becomes easier.
08 – The photographer has to stay open
I think this is one of the most important things I’ve learned. Experience doesn’t mean knowing exactly what will happen. Experience means knowing what to do when things don’t happen the way you expected. You can have a plan. You should have a plan. But you also need the confidence to leave it behind. Because sometimes the best photograph is hiding behind the thing that went wrong. The weather changes. The clothes don’t work. The person moves differently. The location doesn’t feel right. And suddenly you discover something better.
09 – Great photography starts before the cameras
Maybe that’s why I don’t think photography starts with the camera. It starts with curiosity. With creativity. With listening. With looking. With understanding people. With bringing something to the table. And with being willing to change your mind. The camera is simply the tool that comes afterwards. By the time I pick it up, a lot has already happened. I already have an idea of the person. I know what they want. I know what I’m thinking. And I also know that all of that might change within the next five minutes. And that’s exactly how it should be.
10 – Do not photograph the plan – photograph the person
A moodboard can give you a direction. Experience can give you confidence. But neither of them can tell you exactly what will happen when a real person stands in front of you. That’s why I don’t want to photograph the plan. I want to photograph the person. And sometimes that means abandoning everything I thought I was going to do. Because the person standing in front of me is more important than the idea I had before they arrived.
The camera doesn’t create the photograph. The decisions before the camera create the photograph. The conversation. The idea. The observation. The trust. The ability to adapt. The willingness to say: “Okay. This isn’t working. Let’s try something else.” And sometimes, that’s when the best photograph appears. Not because everything went according to plan. But because it didn’t. Have a plan. Then be ready to forget it. Because great photography doesn’t start when you press the shutter. It starts when you start paying attention
