I love the waning moments of a photo shoot most. Not at all because I’m wanting the session to be over, but simply because both subject and photographer have exhausted themselves of the clever, contrived, and subconscious manipulation that invariably colors interactions between people who've just met or haven’t yet pierced the veil of separation.

Even if only very subtly, the beginning of a shoot carries within it an energy of “this is how I want you to see me”, or “this is how I think you want to see me”. And then, little by little as the exploration continues, layers of this energy are shed and questions emerge. “How do you actually see me?” “How am I really seeing you”? “What commonalities do we share?”

If I’m really lucky, after these unspoken questions are addressed comes the part I hope for and treasure most…….the release. It’s only when statements and queries are dropped that expectation melts away, and acceptance shows its face. The frantic pace of seeking slows to nearly a stop. Utterings of “this is who I am” and “this is who we are”, can finally be heard.

He’d been laughing, looking down at the floor when I softly called his name and he looked up. Just a simple photograph of a boy looking up, but I like it because his expression reveals a genuine openness that wasn’t available when we began.



~Cynthia