When the Camera Becomes Secondary: A South End Headshot Session with Claire

The best portraits rarely start the way people think they do. It’s not about perfect posing or carefully planned direction. More often, it starts with something much simpler: ease. An undercurrent of comfort that builds slowly, until the camera stops feeling like the center of anything. That was the case with Claire.

A PhD student at Boston University and originally from the Midwest, Claire joined me for a portrait session at a beautiful South End studio. The kind of studio where you walk in and immediately start mentally rearranging furniture.

Which is exactly what we did.

The space was full of eclectic decor, interesting textures, and enough natural light to keep us entertained for hours. Every corner felt different. One minute we were working with dramatic window light, the next we were dragging a desk across the room because it looked better somewhere else.

As we started shooting, we got to talking. As it turns out, we had both spent significant time abroad during our studies. I completed my master’s degree in Paris, while Claire earned hers in Norway. Different countries, similar experiences.

Claire is currently pursuing her PhD at Boston University, and BU happens to be where I completed my undergraduate degree. The conversation jumped from Europe to Comm Ave, campus life, academia, and all the winding paths that somehow bring people back to Boston.

Our fields weren’t all that far apart either. My background is in human rights law, and hers is in public health. Different disciplines, but close enough that we quickly found ourselves exchanging thoughts on her research, policy, and the occasional existential challenge of spending years of your life studying one very specific thing.

Behind it all, the session got easier the moment it stopped feeling like a photoshoot.

The more we talked, the less attention either of us paid to the camera, which, conveniently, is usually when the best photographs happen. People often think good portraits come from perfect posing. I think they come from comfort.

Comfort creates confidence. Confidence creates movement. Movement creates expression.

The camera can tell when someone feels at ease.

By the end of the session, we had covered everything from life abroad to graduate school to the strange experience of trying to explain your research to people who immediately wish they hadn’t asked.

The photos almost became secondary.

Almost.