Is it possible to create “authentic” portraits as a studio photographer?

Is it possible to create “real” or “authentic” portraits as a studio photographer? This question recently came up in a photography group I’m a part of, and I think it’s worth discussing!

What does “authentic portraits” even mean?

Photos of people in their messy homes are advertised as “authentic”

Photos of children crying or upset are advertised as “real”

Families snuggling on blankets, back-lit in Golden-Hour sun are “authentic”

And somehow, studio photos or “posed” photos, are not.

This assumption is nothing new.  There has been push-back against “posed” images for as long as I’ve been a photographer (which is a really long time).

The belief seems to be that if a person is sitting or standing in a studio and looking into the camera, the resulting photo is somehow not as intimate, or as “real” as a candid moment.

But I disagree

Yes, there is intimacy in images that come from messy life; hugs, tears, laughter, movement… those things are all beautiful.

But there is also intimacy in eye contact.

There is something magical that happens when you sit a person down in front of a plane backdrop, without distractions, and just see them while they look back at you.

Holding a gaze.

When a person can be captured like that, without the distractions of what's going on in the background, or the setting they are in; when they can simply sit in a chair, look into a camera, in my mind, that is TRUE intimacy. 

Letting yourself be seen without distractions and then letting yourself be photographed, without anything else to look at! Well, to me, that's as brave as it gets!

Thats the power of studio portraits

Creating a space where people can do that is part of the magic we do as studio photographers.

It’s beautiful and it’s needed.

Long live studio photography!