Beauty in Your Own Way - extended photo session

I believe the most powerful portraits happen when you stop trying to look like someone else.

There is a particular kind of beauty in a person who is comfortable with their own face, body, expressions, age, energy - all the little things that make them recognisable as themselves. I don't want to smooth those things away or make you fit a photographic idea of what a woman is supposed to look like. I want to see what happens when you don't have to.

This was an extended portrait session in Porto, moving from the city to the ocean so we could have very different surroundings, light and moods, without losing the feeling of the person in front of the camera.

A longer session gives us time for that - we can walk, change clothes, sit down for a glas of wine/coffee, wait for the right light - and gradually let the photographs become less about posing and more about being there.

For me, authenticity isn't a trend or a photographic style - it's a necessity and it’s where the memorable photographs begin.