Street Portraits with Sony A7IV 📸

He wanted to hire me 📸

I met John “Elli” a few weeks ago near Joyce skytrain station in Vancouver.

He saw my camera, and asked for my business card so he could hire me.

I could tell John had great energy - so instead, I quickly turned on my BTS camera and offered him a mini photoshoot (for free).

After some initial hesitation….

He said f**k it, and we got straight to work. 💪

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⚙️ Technical Notes:

Smiling for the camera is one of the most difficult things for most people I photograph.

I always hear “I hate my smile” or “my smile doesn’t look good on camera”.

NOPE! That’s incorrect.

Everyone has a fake smile that they bring out for photos.

And yes, that fake smile generally doesn’t look good/authentic.

But a real smile? In my eyes, nothing beats that.

So I always spend time making people feel comfortable, and show them techniques to let their real/authentic smile shine.

To me, this is one of the most important parts of portrait photography.

And it always brings me joy to witness someone go from serious/cool facial expressions in the beginning, to real/authentic smiles by the end.

John had an incredible smile - the last few photos are my fave!


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📍 Joyce Skytrain Station, Vancouver BC

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