What if photoshoots were sessions to jam without instruments?

Philosophy and Approach

I’ve long thought about how I approach my photography. It began with simple moments shared with friends, just taking pictures. Then came setting up looks for them, then choosing locations and building scenes. Still, it could stay completely free formed. Sometimes there was only a loose idea for a look, and I’d let them complete it. We’d pick an area near someone’s home, mine or theirs, and just walk around, talk, shoot, eat, and shoot again. I’ve always likened it to a jam session. Like musicians, when they come together and let ideas flow freely, you can feel it start to sync as the session goes on. Synergy enters the chat.

Since around 2012, I’ve noticed that the last few frames of a shoot often yield the best results. I think it happens because the session is ending and both subject and shooter begin to let everything go. We throw out ideas we might have held back earlier. We are already there. The outfits, makeup, hair, accessories, and props all exist in this moment together, and there will never be another moment quite like it. Even if you remove the visual elements, the people themselves will never be in the same state again. Time changes everything. Months or even a year can pass before another shoot.Our entire decision making can change in that time, as well as what we deem worth it visually.

I once wrote on my old website that 

“without planning, free-form creation takes on your subconscious and is released in a multitude of ways.” 

That line was about the value of spontaneous sessions. Art, for me, must hold meaning beyond its surface. That does not mean art that focuses on aesthetics lacks meaning, because the choices behind it often tell their own story. The process itself is a story.

So the goal is to stay open, free, and confident when entering a session like this. Confidence is the key. I have seen so many of the people I work with completely lock in, hitting marks, shaping their bodies, expressions on point. Then suddenly they step out of that flow and lose it, becoming self-aware again, and they ask for direction. That is perfectly fine.

That is where my side begins. Directing when needed, checking details, fixing hair or clothes, and constantly scanning the space for light and background. Direction has always been the skill I feel I must keep sharpening. When I am inspired, it comes easily. The shoot flows when I can feel who this person is and what the moment is trying to become. It, the moment, is to itself it’s own entity. Sometimes that rhythm presents itself naturally. Other times I am just as lost as they are. When searching for something unique, and or out of bounds. 

It is easy to pose someone. It is easy to pull from a list of generic poses that work. But that has rarely been my or my subject’s goal. Even when someone does want to recreate what they have seen, that is fine, because the real magic comes from the energy shared between us. That is where the synergy returns.

When I see them start to leave their flow and come back into awareness, I try to meet them there. That return is usually the most anxious moment. It is like when you have done something so long it becomes second nature, but once you start consciously thinking about the steps, it suddenly feels foreign. These sessions are like that. Catch and release. A kind of creative hot potato. No one is in absolute control. Only the moment is.