Francesca on film or the reason why I started taking photographs of people

For a very long time, I was afraid to photograph people. I started my photography career photographing and styling interiors and still life and didn’t want to deal with people. And not that I’m introverted or don’t like humans, actually quite the opposite. I love people. But I was terrified by the way people were photographed at that time. With forced poses and all the same locations and outfits, with the sun behind them- the cookie-cutter approach was something that I didn’t want to deal with.
I truly believe that we as photographers should look at the humans in front of our camera first, embrace their uniqueness and try to recreate it in our work. The idea of forcing a template approach sounds to me very disrespectful to the person who we photograph, disrespectful even to our own craft. That person should be our muse. But then Francesca show up on the horizon - she was coming from Florida and put all her trust in me and we had an amazing portrait session in Pacifica, California. And I decided to approach this session with kindness and respect - to give her all the time she needed to relax in front of my camera. And the images truly show that. This is the amazing, beautiful, kind, and delicate Francesca I saw that day. And I’m so proud that I was the one that create that legacy for her.

And just for the record - all images were photographed on film.