I love portraiture. It’s the kind of photography that I keep going back to, again and again — because people are endlessly fascinating. The flicker of emotion. The in-between moments. The quiet tension. The laughter right before it spills.

But let’s get one thing straight:

A portrait cannot capture someone’s soul.

I know that’s the cliché. “I want to photograph their essence.” “This image reveals their truth.” “This shot really shows who they are.”

Frankly? That’s giving the camera (or the photographer) way too much credit.

A Portrait is just a Glimpse

The truth is, a portrait is just one frame, one moment, one slice of expression caught in the blink of a shutter. Maybe it’s authentic. Maybe it’s performative. Maybe it’s somewhere in between.

But it’s not the whole story of the whole person. It never could be.

Even our most “honest” portraits are shaped by choices — lens, light, angle, context, color. And of course, by what the subject chooses to give us. Some people crack wide open in front of a camera. Others give us only what they want us to see. And both are valid.

That’s not deception. That’s humanity.

The Magic Is in the Moment — Not the Myth

When I do a portrait session, I’m not trying to unlock someone’s innermost being like I’m playing some psychological escape room. I’m not chasing their “true self.” I’m paying attention to the moment they give me something real — whatever that looks like.

It might be a laugh. A twitch. A look of defiance. The way they fidget with their hands when they think I’m not looking. I don’t need to capture their whole personality. I just need a glimpse that feels honest — even if it’s only true for that second.

That’s the art. That’s the craft. That’s the part that humbles me every time.

Portraits Are Conversations

The best portraits don’t happen when I press the shutter. They happen in the quiet buildup — in the small talk, the pacing, the in-between silences. They come when the person in front of me forgets about the lens for just long enough to be.

And sometimes? That “perfect” moment never comes. But we still make something together — and that process is as meaningful as the result.

Final Thoughts

A portrait doesn’t capture the soul. Let’s not pretend it does.

What it can do — if we’re lucky — is show a flicker of the person behind the pose. A truth that may not be complete, but is completely theirs in that moment.  Sometimes it does something more, it says something about the larger human condition, about what makes us human.