Private Commissions
You don’t need a reason to be photographed beautifully. A portrait made with the care of an editorial shoot, built entirely around you — wardrobe, hair, makeup, light and direction, all considered before the first frame.
INQUIREThis is what it feels like to be the subject.
Most cameras are trying to document something. A birthday. A vacation. A profile photo. A moment that happened to be happening anyway.
This is different. For one afternoon nothing is being documented — you are the reason the photograph exists. The light is built around you, the wardrobe is chosen for you, and every frame is directed. You don’t have to know what to do. You have to show up. The rest is my job.
Published Internationally. Made For You.
Portfolio work for Elite Model Management in Tokyo and Miami and Lucent Models in Osaka, alongside editorial published in nine international titles.
Most people have never actually been photographed.
Not snapshots. Not a headshot against a grey wall. Photographed, with a plan, considered light, and someone directing every frame. That is what I do for agencies in Tokyo, Osaka, and Miami, and it is exactly what happens here. The only thing that changes is who is standing in front of the camera.
You do not need to know how to pose, and you do not need to be photogenic, whatever that is supposed to mean. Both of those are my job. I will talk you through every frame of it.
The Session
One subject, one afternoon, and a shoot built around you rather than a package picked off a list.
Your direction
We begin long before the camera comes out: what you want the portraits to feel like, what you are drawn to, what you want them to say. I build the shoot out of that.
Wardrobe
Clothing, silhouette and texture, worked through together. Bring your own pieces, pull from mine, or both. The point is not to dress you up. It is to make the photograph unmistakably yours.
Hair and makeup
Professional, done on the day, with touch-ups held throughout so the last look is as sharp as the first.
Full direction
You will never be standing there wondering what to do with your hands. Where to stand, how to move, when to hold an expression and when to let it go. The photographs should feel effortless. The process behind them is not.
Three to four looks
Clean and understated. Sculptural and dramatic. Something you would not have chosen yourself. Enough range to make a body of work rather than one version of you.
Finished as artwork
Individually retouched and finished to the standard of my published work, and made to live somewhere other than a screen.
How It Works
A commission is reserved with a booking fee, which holds your date and the planning that goes into it.
Your portraits are chosen afterward, from a private gallery of the finished images. You decide what you want once you have actually seen yourself photographed this way, rather than guessing at it beforehand. Prints, framed wall pieces, and folio boxes are all available, and every portrait you buy includes its digital file.
Full pricing and collection details are sent when you inquire.
Process
01
Plan
We talk about you, the photographs you are drawn to, and what you want this to become. A visual direction and look board are built before anything is shot.
02
Create
Hair and makeup, wardrobe, light, then we shoot. You are directed through every frame, with time to change looks and let the work evolve.
03
See Yourself
A private gallery of the finished portraits. This is the part that changes things. You do not have to imagine what they might look like.
04
Keep It
You choose what matters to you. Archival prints, framed artwork, a folio box, or the photograph itself. Whatever you choose is finished to last.
Sample Work
Additional commissioned work is shared privately on request. Many of the people I photograph choose not to have their portraits published.
Questions
I am not a model. Is this for me?
Almost nobody I shoot this for is. The women on this page are clients, not models. You do not need to know how to pose, what to do with your hands, or how to hold an expression. That is my job, and I talk you through it frame by frame.
What do I wear?
That is my job, not yours. We build a look board before the shoot and style it together, and you have my wardrobe to pull from. You will never be standing in your closet at midnight trying to guess what photographs well.
Can I just buy the digital files?
Digital files and prints are priced the same, because what you are paying for is the photograph rather than the format it arrives in. Every portrait you buy includes its digital file. Most people want something on a wall once they have seen the work at size.
How much retouching do you do?
Enough, and not more. Skin stays skin. I remove genuine distractions and finish the frame to the same standard as my published work, but I am not reshaping anyone. It should look like you on your best day, not like someone else.
Where are sessions held?
In my St. Louis studio, on location in the region, or somewhere that means something to you. Travel beyond the region is available on commission.
How long does the shoot take?
Plan on the better part of a day. Hair and makeup first, then three to four looks with changes and touch-ups in between. It is not rushed, and it is not meant to be.
How far in advance should I book?
Four to eight weeks is typical. I take a limited number of these each month so that each one gets real planning, so specific dates tend to go early.
Can I book this for someone else, or with someone else?
Yes to both. These are commissioned as gifts fairly often, and couples and mother-daughter sessions work well. Tell me who is involved when you inquire.
Inquiry
Commission a Portrait
A short note is enough to begin. I respond personally within two business days.