Portraits
Info
A personal series of photo experiments and portrait studies.
the design process
Challenge
Brand work happens at a distance. Personas, audiences, segments: by the time a person reaches a brand system, they've usually been reduced to a slide. It's easy to design for "users" and forget what an actual face looks like when it hasn't been asked to pose.
Insight
People are never more themselves than in the second before or after the picture. The laugh at a bad joke, the hand fixing a collar, the look someone gives the person they came with. None of it is planned, and all of it is real. Brands spend years trying to sound human. People already are, all the time, without trying.
Answer
I photograph people: couples in Portofino, friends, strangers who agreed for a minute. I'm not chasing the perfect frame. I'm waiting for the honest one. It keeps me close to the people every identity is ultimately for, and reminds me what warmth looks like before it becomes a tone-of-voice guideline.
the design process
Outcome
A habit of looking at people with curiosity instead of assumptions. It shows up in my brand work as softer edges: imagery direction that feels lived-in, systems with room for real people instead of stock smiles.
More works
