Portrait F.A.Q.S

These sessions are designed to create considered, lasting portraits. Below are answers to the questions that come up most often before booking.

Where does the session take place?

My home studio in Glenmore Park. It is a private, purpose-built space designed specifically for portraiture: calm, controlled, and free from distraction. It comfortably suits individuals and families of up to five people.

For larger groups where the space would feel crowded, we can move to a studio in the region, so everyone has room to breathe without compromising the quality of the work.

How long does a session last?

Most sessions run between 45 and 90 minutes depending on the number of people and the range of portraits we are making together.

The pace is steady and focused. Never rushed.

When are sessions available?

Sessions are available throughout the week and on Saturdays, from morning through to early evening. Sundays are reserved for family and personal time.

If you have specific scheduling constraints, get in touch and we will find something that works.

What should we wear?

You will receive a full Style Guide before your session. It covers everything you need to know and will save you standing in front of your wardrobe the night before wondering what you were thinking.

The short version: think considered and well dressed rather than casual. These portraits are made to last. What you wear should reflect that.

I am not comfortable in front of a camera. What if I feel awkward?

Most people feel that way. I certainly do.

I am far more comfortable behind the camera than in front of it, which is exactly why I know how to move people through that initial self-consciousness and into something genuine. You do not need to know how to pose or where to stand. I will guide you carefully and make small adjustments throughout.

The studio is quiet and private. There is no audience and no pressure to perform. Before we start there will be tea, coffee, or champagne, because this is worth celebrating before we have even begun. After a few minutes, most people forget the camera is there entirely.

We are not chasing perfection. We are simply looking for something honest.

Do you pose us?

Yes, but gently.

I will guide you into positions that feel composed without feeling stiff. Small adjustments make a significant difference in the final portrait. The goal is something that feels both structured and genuine: not a performance, not a snapshot.

Can we discuss where the portraits will hang?

I encourage it.

Knowing where the work might live helps shape how it is made. A vertical composition suits a hallway. Something more balanced and centred belongs above a fireplace. If you can send a photograph of the space beforehand, I can keep scale and proportion in mind throughout the session. It is the difference between a portrait that has to find a home and one that was made for a specific place.

Do you shoot outdoors?

The studio is the preferred environment. Professional lighting ensures consistency, depth, and quality that natural light alone rarely matches.

If an outdoor setting matters to you, we can discuss it. Any location work is handled with the same level of care and professional lighting, so the standard of the final work is never compromised.

Do you provide framing?

No. Framing is a personal aesthetic decision that depends on your interior, your taste, and how the portrait will live in your home. That decision belongs with you.

I am happy to advise on size and proportion. What happens on your walls from there is entirely your own.

What happens after the session?

Two weeks after your session you will return to the studio for the viewing appointment. Your portraits will be presented properly: full size, on a calibrated screen, in a quiet space with no distractions. This is where the work reveals itself.

Bring whoever needs to be part of the decision. This is not a meeting to rush.

From there you will select your finished works: large fine art prints, matted canvases, portfolio boxes, or albums. Everything is produced to archival standard and built to last.

Will I receive digital files?

The primary deliverable is always the physical work. That is what this session is for and what the investment covers.

That said, digital files accompany every product ordered. Each print or album comes with both a high and low resolution version of the corresponding image. As your order grows, more files are released accordingly.

Social media sized images are included with every order. You have made something worth sharing and I am not going to make that difficult.

Can I bring someone with me for support?

For individual sessions, I would gently discourage it.

The session works best when it is just the two of us and the work. A third person in the room, however well-intentioned, changes the dynamic. You start performing for them instead of relaxing for the camera. That works against the portrait every time.

For family sessions, everyone who is part of the portrait should of course be there. Anyone beyond that is best left at home.

What if I need to reschedule?

Please give me as much notice as you possibly can.

Session times are held specifically for you and are almost impossible to fill at short notice once booked. I ask for the same consideration I would give you: if something changes on my end, I will contact you immediately and we will find another time. If something changes on yours, the earlier I know the better for both of us.

What if someone is unwell on the day?

Reschedule without hesitation, in either direction.

If you or anyone in your session is unwell, please let me know as soon as possible and we will find another time. The same applies if I am unwell. Nobody benefits from being in a room together when one of us is not well, and the portrait will keep until we are both ready to make it properly.

For individuals

These sessions are for anyone who has decided that this moment in their life deserves to be recorded properly.

Sometimes that is someone who has spent decades building something: a business, a reputation, a place in their community. Someone who carries real weight in the world but has never had a portrait that reflects who they actually became in the process.

Sometimes it is someone with a strong, clear sense of who they are: a creative, a maker, someone who has lived fully and wants a portrait that holds that without flattening it into something safe and presentable.

Sometimes it is simply someone who is done being invisible to the camera and has decided, at this point in their life, that they deserve something made properly for them.

All of them are after the same thing. To be seen accurately, on their own terms, at this particular moment in their life. The occasion will not present itself. This is you deciding to make it.

For families

These sessions are best suited to families at a significant moment. Not every stage of family life calls for a legacy portrait, but some do with unmistakable clarity.

A child about to leave home. The last year before the house empties. A generation gathering while it still can. A family that has been through something and come out the other side. These are threshold moments and they pass quickly. A portrait made at the right time becomes something the whole family will look at for decades and feel the weight of.

These sessions work best when the children are old enough to understand what is being made. When everyone in the frame knows why they are there, the portrait shows it.

Don't let the moment slip. I know from experience what it costs when it does.