The quick portrait of Zak Braverman I did the other day reminded me that I hadn't written yet about a photoshoot Paul Barr and I did in April, of a mutual friend, Yuko.

I've been trying to get better with portraiture for about a year, but my limited experience so far has been mostly with guys. Last April I did do a photoshoot with a photogenic married couple, including some nice shots of the wife; with that under my belt, a few days later Paul and I met Yuko at the dazzling Fushimi Inari Shrine in eastern Kyoto.

Yuko has a natural and infectious smile, but had no experience in front of the camera — only slightly less than Paul and I behind it — so things started off as one might expect: stiff as a board.

I knew I had to give her time to get used to us and our lenses pointed at her, so the location was great for letting us explore as a group, to alternate between being silly and trying real portraiture. I have no clue what I'm doing with portraiture except to try to get the subject to forget, even if for a fleeting moment, about the camera. In that short instant, perhaps the real person is exposed, and therein lies the shot. Or so I imagine.

With that in mind, I don't expect much at the beginning... we'll try poses and such, but we're still warming up to each other, so I expect nothing to come of them but a step toward something better later in the session.

Part of my trying to make her at ease in front of the camera is to be silly myself in front of the camera, so at one point I demonstrated (in front of the passing crowds) the kind of pose I was looking for.

Of course I felt supremely silly, but it's only fair, since I'm asking her to pose the same way. (Though to be fair to me, a beautiful woman posing as a beautiful woman is not as silly as a geeky man posing as a beautiful woman.)

To help demonstrate how fun and easy this all was, when I saw a couple (mid-60s?) in the crowd watching us with big smiles, I turned to them and said “now your turn!”, and posed them as a couple in the same way I had posed Yuko, and photographed them with their camera. Everyone had fun, and perhaps they got a nice shot out of it. And Yuko became more comfortable both with me and as a model, I hope.

Another technique I thought might help her feel at ease in front of the camera was to have her take my camera for some shots.

With that silliness out of the way, I went the opposite direction to “pensive”, perhaps about a far-away love...

And then we move on.

This particular section of path was not photogenic, but I paused here for more shots because it kept the flow going. The goal was not “good results”, but another step on the way to having her feel comfortable in front of the camera.

Yuko was finally starting to get comfortable, and so were we, so the photos steadily improved.

Continued here...