The phrase fine art portrait commission  is used often, and not always with much precision. It is sometimes applied to any portrait session that looks more polished than average, which is precisely why the term can begin to feel vague and interchangeable. When used too casually, it becomes another decorative phrase in photography marketing, something that sounds elevated without necessarily saying anything meaningful about the quality of thought behind the work, the experienc

Why Every Woman Deserves a Portrait of Her Own There is something I notice almost every time I sit down with a woman to talk about the possibility of creating a portrait of her. Before we get anywhere near discussions about clothing, locations or light, and before we begin imagining where the finished photographs might live in her home, there is usually a brief pause in the conversation, a kind of gentle hesitation, followed by a sentence that is delivered half jokingly and h

So you've taken a few selfies and hated how they look - wondering all the while how Instagrammers make themselves look so effortlessly perfect in every photo. Am I right? Well, know that firstly, for every photo they post there are probably 100+ more on their phone waiting to be deleted, where they've gone 'ugh, I look terrible...try again' and secondly, they've filtered and 'massaged' the hell out of that one image so there's a good chance it barely resembles the original pe