Project: Portraits

This was my first ‘proper’ long-term portrait project that happened during my graduate school years, where I set out to photograph my friends at the photography club over the course of 18 months. Although most of us (including myself) are more comfortable with being behind the camera rather than in front, everyone has different personalities and camera preferences. I wanted to capture them in a uniquely privileged position of being a friend as well as a fellow photographer.

In the end, I ended up planning a series of studio portrait sessions with each (or sometimes multiple) of my friends, where I had to figure out the conceptual plan of the end result that can bring each of their different styles and personalities alongside their camera(s). This was during the pandemic, so scheduling the time and renting the proper studio was a big issue. This was why the project ended up taking 18 months, more than double the amount of time I anticipated. The fact that I had zero experience with studio portrait photography did not speed things up, which led me to book several practice sessions with some friends outside the club who were kind enough to participate. In the end, I ended up making a photobook of 24 pages, including a series of portrait photos of 11 of my friends (7 of them are in the photography club, and 4 of them for the practice sessions). I printed the photobook and shared with all the friends who participated in the project to thank them (including one friend that helped me with the design) for their time and effort.

Although I do not intend to share the photos publicly, I wanted to document the project here since this was one of my most challenging and rewarding projects. In short, I learned several things about portrait photography. Obviously, portrait photography is really tricky, even if you are in a close relationship with the subject. Even though this was a relatively controlled studio setting, the inter-personal dynamic will likely become complex under the studio light, and I had to learn how to constantly juggle between guiding them how to pose stuff while managing to press the shutter and control the lighting etc. Speaking of which, setting up the studio lighting can be tricky if you are not used to it, despite the fact that I have planned to go for a very simple lighting setup with a minimal black-and-white aesthetic. In the end, this project eventually increased by respect and appreciation for the photographers who runs their own businesses (like studios, wedding photographers etc.) and the amount of stuff that they have to juggle with to not mess things up.

Acknowledgements

Thank you to…
@d.hye.n
@jiggyviggie
@kmkyun
@badatmool
@h.leyye
@seowoolee92
@solbitcho
for the fun times during the photoshoot sessions,

and also to…
@bbw_syeup
@hyessun_yun
@yeun_lala
@minyeobkim_
for helping me practice and figure out how to do this studio shooting thing in the first place,

and finally…
@bangjunhoho
for helping me with the photobook design.

Inspirations

“The Two Halves of your Creative Journey (a thought for makers) ” - Sean Tucker
”The meaning in the making” - Sean Tucker
”Abstract: The Art of Design | Platon: Photography ” - Netflix
for making me want to try portrait photography.

“Shooting Portraits with One Speedlight” - Sean Tucker
for making me want to try studio portrait photography.

@alan_schaller
@platon
for the inspiration for the black-and-white portrait photography style.

Timeline

Initial idea and planning: Winter 2021
Photoshoot: Spring 2022 to Summer 2023 (5 practice + 5 main sessions)
Photobook design and printing: Summer 2023