Work With the subject

Telling stories through portraits depends to a large extent on your ability to work with the subject. “Create a comfortable atmosphere where you have the chance to get a decent opportunity for a portrait from your subject,” says Tom Oldham. “Remember as Jane Bown said, portraits are given and not taken.”

“My main technique is to chat to them like I would my friends and family, I put them at ease and make sure any nerves go out of the window,” says Tom Barnes, who believes that the language you employ during a shoot is vital. “No one likes having their picture taken, and so do your utmost to make sure your subject feels comfortable. I will always use positive re-enforcement during a shoot and I never criticise – I’ve seen it on set where one wrongly placed word can destroy an entire shoot, it’s not worth it.”

Your goal should be to make the subject feel included, says Tom Barnes. “I always like to use the collaborative terms as well; I never use ‘I’ and instead I use ‘we’. You’d be surprised at how much of a difference that makes – the subject feels more involved, and when they feel that they are part of the process they are more invested and likely to give you more.”

Tom Oldham advises against excessive direction. “My best direction is no direction,” he says. “You should only ever need to correct body positioning a bit from what’s natural and I always try to avoid over-cooking it, as it veers towards becoming a terribly contrived image if you’ve taken the subject away from what was natural to them,” explains Tom Oldham. “Prior to shooting I might suggest the tone we’re looking for from the subject, and then I walk them into the composition, tell them where to be and see how they look. Shoot a couple and see – because these might be your best images and you can wrap in five frames sometimes. Otherwise direct them, but this only works with actors, models and the occasional musicians. Definitely not athletes, alas.”

Your people skills are a vital part of the storytelling process