Journal · Craft
Photographing People Who Hate Being Photographed
Leon Vale · 9 April 2026 · 1 min read
Most of my sitters arrive convinced they look wrong in pictures. Here is how the first twenty minutes of a session change that.
Most of the people I photograph start the session convinced they look wrong in pictures. Executives, authors, musicians, people who are confident in every other part of their lives. The first twenty minutes of a shoot are almost entirely about that.
Do not start with the camera
I spend the first ten minutes making coffee and talking about anything except the shoot. Meanwhile I am watching how the person sits, which side they turn towards when they laugh, and where the light falls on them. By the time I pick up the camera I already know most of what I need.
Give the hands a job
Nobody knows what to do with their hands while being looked at. So I give them a task: hold the coffee, fix a sleeve, lean on the back of a chair. A task replaces self-consciousness with attention, and attention looks good on everyone.
People do not dislike their face. They dislike the face they make when they know they are being watched.
Show them a frame early
About fifteen minutes in, I turn the camera round and show the sitter a frame I know is good. It is the moment the session changes. They see that the pictures are not what they feared, and they stop performing for the lens.
Keep shooting after the last frame
When I say we are done, everyone relaxes at once. Shoulders drop, faces soften, and people laugh at something. I keep the camera in my hand for that minute. A surprising number of the final selects come from it.
