April | 2013 | The First 10,000

Model: John Burke
Photo taken during shoot for his latest album, Reverie.

I used to hate taking pictures of people. I realize now that it was because I didn’t know how. I’ve never liked posed photography, so I always tried for candid shots, which would work sometimes, but the likelihood of getting good shots reliably were pretty slim. I was always so displeased with the results that I avoided photographing people all together. It wasn’t until I discovered Jane Bown that I realized that people weren’t the problem; it was me and the terrifying piece of equipment that hung from my neck.

Cameras are everywhere. People have developed a sort of sixth sense where cameras are concerned and typically have one of two reactions: They hide or they pose. It happens every time someone pulls out a device because we are trained to expect it. (I’ve always been a hider, ironically enough) What’s a girl to do? I want those in the moment, genuine reactions, but the camera senses won’t let me have them! I want to capture those priceless moments when all that hidden personality dances across a person’s face while he tells you a story, or is lost in a quiet thought, but if my subject is hidden, either from the camera or behind his “camera smile”, all of that life is lost to me and my lens.

That’s when I realized that I had answered my own question. Those moments that I want to capture only happen when someone is comfortable and willing to share. Candid isn’t about the subject not seeing the camera, it’s about them not minding the camera. I just had to make people forget that the camera exists. The results were exactly what I had wanted my photography to be.

Portraiture is still a work in progress for me, as are all things, but it has become one of my favorite things to do. These are some of my favorite images — I was lucky enough to really capture my subjects’ personalities in these. Hope you enjoy.