My company is slowly returning to the office and I got to spend a fun day with my design team. We spent a morning reflecting on the year, lunchtime bonding over grilled cheeses and mussels, and an afternoon drawing, exchanging Green Elephant gifts (a sustainable alternative to White Elephant), and enjoying a beautiful charcuterie spread.

During happy hour, I set up a casual portrait session in the office studio and revisited my favorite lighting setup: one light, one softbox, and a fan. Easy, breezy, flattering, and so much fun. Here are all the lovely faces who sat for me.

Typically when people get in front of a camera, they tend to have a perception of what a portrait looks like, conditioned by years of terrible school portraits, JC Penney photo studios, and passport photos. Smooth hair, a stiff posture, and a smile, however forced.

But when someone steps onto my set, I have the music going. We’re not taking pictures, we’re dancing. You bring a friend who turns the hair fan to high and hypes you up. “Work it girl! Give me a smolder. Oh daaaamn!”

Nobody should have dead eyes. No one should be stiff. Half the photos should be unusable because they’re just of you laughing. This is when the walls come down and people start showing their authentic selves. This is when the real picture-taking starts.

It gives me such joy to see people transform into a relaxed and free version of themselves right in front of me. It’s what I love most about portraiture. There are no rules. And getting to show people how beautiful they are in that moment without a makeup/hair team, fancy wardrobe, or Photoshop is probably the most fulfilling moment of it all.

Although it was short, I loved getting to capture my coworkers in a relaxed setting like this. It’s been so darn long not seeing people’s smiles in person.

I can’t wait to set up my home studio. Hehe.