Fast Portraits

I've made a quite a number of portraits of the people in my life. But I need to make more. Over time, I want to add to my collection of black and white images of friends and family. 

I shot this one during a fun lunch at a local restaurant with a friend who also loves photography... but from behind the camera! It took me far more time to talk her into letting me make a few images than the actual shooting itself. Most friends are self-conscious in front of the camera. So I either have to work fast or take so much time with my camera up that my subject eventually gets bored with it all... and finally relaxes! 

So my goal usually is to shoot real quickly, with minimum staging and lighting... and still produce strong images. Not snapshots, fast portraits. Portraits that say as much about the who the person is on the inside as how they look on the outside. Portraits that help connect us to the subject.

For me, this one does that. Thanks, my friend, for letting me shoot it!