Fine art school portraits

Fine Art School Portraits are a modern, simple approach to school photos that are growing in popularity. They're different from most school portraits in two big ways:  First, they are as simple as can be. Black background. Natural light. One lens, that doesn't zoom in or out, and imitates the view of the human eye. No backgrounds that look like a forest, or the deck of a ship. No autumn-themed prop setups. Definitely no green screens. Nothing to distract from the child. 

And second, they don't force each child into the same rigid mold. I won't tell them where to sit, how to sit, where to put their feet and their knees and their hands and how to turn their head and tilt their head and lift their chin and then smile!

That doesn't work well on most children. Or on most anyone, no matter what age, really. Children will never be forced to smile for these portraits. You'll see several photos here where the kids are not smiling. Those are some of my favorites. Some kids love having their photo made and are used to it. Others are incredibly shy. They won't all fit into one mold, so I'm not going to try to fit them into one. I want to take their portrait. Theirs. No one else's.

If you'd like to learn more about these portraits, or if you want to help me bring them to your child's school soon, you can do that too: