03/09/2026
Photographer as a coach
The executive portraits of my latest client, Dinesh, turned out so wonderfully that I wanted to use
and share these particular images in my next post.
I have developed my own working methods over the years, together with the techniques and
exercises that support them. These methods sometimes need a little explaining before their benefits
can really be understood.
One of my most important tools is uninterrupted time. It ensures that no one interrupts our session
and that we have the freedom to follow every idea through to its conclusion.
With Dinesh, this worked beautifully. I realised that reaching the very best results required some
serious analysis — something I find immensely fascinating. My approach is to begin with different
basic experiments and then ask myself what it is about my idea that is not quite working yet.
What makes this so interesting is that sometimes one particular expression suddenly appears and
tells me: now we are striking gold.
After considering a few possibilities, I brought out our so-called apple boxes and started looking for
an extremely relaxed, casual lounging position for Dinesh. It is actually the kind of posture people
naturally use in everyday life, yet its existence as a useful pose is hardly ever recognised.
And that was where everything began to fall into place. I recognised it within seconds.
Although with this particular idea I missed some of the wonderful possibilities in the shoulder
positions, throwing one leg behind the other seemed to free Dinesh physically — and, to my
delight, I suddenly saw an incredibly relaxed and personal expression that fitted the CV theme
perfectly.
After all, what we wanted to emphasise was ease, presence, approachability, an ability to
collaborate and so on — all those qualities that help create the right atmosphere for successful
communication.
When an expression like this appears, it is worth capturing it in as many variations as possible. Very
often those variations reveal something equally interesting, or sometimes even more interesting, that
can become the driving force behind the images.
Naturally, at this stage we are still looking for an even more open gaze and an even more relaxed
smile. Those things simply would not have time to arrive during a fifteen-minute photo session.
Looking at the photographs together and seeing the session as a whole also helps the person being
photographed understand what is happening.
If I myself noticed fifteen minutes earlier that a particularly interesting smile had suddenly
appeared, I cannot really begin to explore and vary it until I have seen it properly and thought about
what exactly happened. And I find that absolutely fascinating.
During a longer session, we have time to discover many different things about a person's individual
character and put them to work in ways that serve the purpose of the photographs. Everyone has
their own personality, so nothing can simply be pasted from one person onto another.
I often tell a story about an election portrait session that left me with a particularly nice pose and
expression in my toolbox. The client had a rather rare expression of his own that created an intense
connection with the viewer. I enjoy remembering it and telling the story as an example, but I don't
think I have ever managed to transfer that expression to anyone else.
Perhaps I personally enjoy using the idea a little, but I doubt I have managed to manipulate anyone
with it ;) — probably because my own personality is far too straightforward for that...
Back to Dinesh!
Naturally, the images I mentioned above made it into the final stages of our selection. But while
working through all the photographs, we also realised that the earlier stages of the session had given
us successful portraits with his face turned in the opposite direction.
They tell a slightly different, but equally authentic, story about him and give us wonderful variation
within the series. Different crops and black-and-white versions add even more possibilities.
A couple of hours in front of the camera can leave people not only wondering what on earth we
have been doing for all that time, but often rather exhausted as well. But when we are this close to a
great finish, coming first is always worth it.
The peculiar thing about this metaphor is that I never actually know which sport we will be
competing in when we cross the finish line.
For me, the feeling may be even more intense. The working method I have chosen requires a certain
fearlessness. I cannot begin to hesitate. Instead, I have to remain completely focused on
encouraging the person in front of my camera and helping genuine expressions emerge.
Well done, us!
Photography in studio and on location, open when convenient for the client, by request. Let me make
