I used to shoot a lot of actors’ headshots. And my portraits tend to be conservative and… headshots.
But more than that, people simply want a picture of themselves that they like to look at and would want to show to friends. And why not? Life is hard enough and it doesn’t need ugly fucking pictures of people.
It’s a cliché, but everyone has some beauty. Some more than others, but it is always there. A shit personality might make it difficult to find, but beautiful people are all over Montréal.
Most of these are the best out of a bunch of shots, and most are of people that are now friends. All of these shoots were fun. There’s no special lighting, just that of the location.
There’s a little photoshop. I tend to shoot close using either a zoom lens or sticking the camera in close. At the distances I shoot, even the best skin on the youngest face is going to give up its secrets. Imagine being less than a foot from somebody and staying perfectly still while they stared at you. That’s totally unfair.
I photoshop things such that it reminds me of the person I see at a glance, perhaps when I’m walking toward them and there’s that recognition that passes between friends.