A photoshoot is a good gift for someone who would never book one for themselves and would be glad, afterwards, that someone did – and a bad gift for someone who genuinely hates being photographed. The difference is not always obvious from the outside, so most of this article is about telling the two apart, and then about how to give the session so that it actually happens rather than sitting in a drawer as a voucher. I photograph a fair number of gifted sessions in Lisbon, and the ones that go well were given a particular way.
Who it works for
The person who has no decent photograph of themselves. Usually because they are the one holding the camera – the parent with three thousand pictures of the children and none of herself, the friend who organises everything and appears in nothing. They will not book this. They will be quietly moved when someone does it for them.
The person at a turning point. A new job, a new city, a divorce survived, a fortieth, a body that has been through something and come out the other side. A portrait at that moment is a marker; people keep these.
A couple who never get photographed together. Parents, in particular, whose last picture of the two of them alone is from before the first child. And couples who have just arrived in Lisbon and want the city in the frame while it is still new to them.
Someone visiting. A session on the last morning of a trip, with the city as the background, is a better souvenir than anything sold on Rua Augusta. This is the gift that friends abroad give each other.
Who it does not work for
The person who says, sincerely and repeatedly, that they hate being photographed. Some of those people say it and mean "I have never been photographed well", and a gifted session is exactly what changes their mind. Others mean it. If you cannot tell which, ask – a session sprung on someone who dreads it is not a kindness, and the pictures will show that. The same goes for anyone in the middle of something they do not want recorded.
How to give it so it happens
Do not fix the date. Give the session, not the appointment. A booked slot the person did not choose is a chore; an open session they schedule themselves is a treat. The exception is when you are giving it to a couple and one of them is in on the plan.
Let them choose the kind. A men's or women's portrait session, or a couples one, and within that, what the pictures are for – a profile, a website, the wall, nothing at all. You are giving them an afternoon and a set of pictures; the shape of it is theirs.
Write down why. The card matters more than usual with this gift, because the gift is abstract until the day. "There is no good photograph of you and there should be" does more than "Enjoy!" It also tells the person what the session is for, which makes them far more likely to book it.
Tell them what to expect. Most people who have never been photographed professionally imagine a studio, poses and an hour of being looked at. A Lisbon session is a walk through two neighbourhoods with someone who talks, and most of it does not feel like being photographed. Say so. The article on what a first session actually involves exists partly so that gift-givers have something to forward.
The usual objections
"They will feel awkward." Everyone does, for the first twenty minutes, and the session is built around that curve; almost nobody feels awkward by the end. The awkwardness people fear is the selfie kind – standing alone, not knowing where to put their hands – and it is precisely what direction removes.
"It is expensive for a present." Compared with a dinner, yes. Compared with something that will still be on a wall in fifteen years, it is not, and that is the honest comparison. It is also one of the few gifts that gets used more than once – the pictures keep being looked at.
"What if they do not use it?" They will if the date is theirs to choose and they know what it is. The vouchers that go unused are the ones given without a word about what the session is like.
Giving one
Write to me with who it is for and, if you know, what kind of session, and I will send you something to put in an envelope and a short note the person can read about what happens on the day. The session itself gets booked when they are ready – a month later or a year – and from then on it is theirs, not yours.