Kirsten Stade. She studied Earth Systems at Stanford and got her Master at Columbia. She interned with Park Service in southeast Utah and was a conservation biologist at WildEarth Guardians. She has a background that anyone would want to boast about, but she never mentioned any of the these when we met. She just thanked for my time, offered me a drink, and made me feel home at her house in Silver Spring.
Florian is her boyfriend. He is a dancer. He smiles like a shy little boy in front of Kirsten. I wasn't sure if he was shy because he was in front of a camera or because he was kissing Kirsten in front of his son, Quentin.
Quentin is an aspiring actor. Not like most of us, he doesn't have a fake smile. Or maybe his fake smile looks just so natural...
There are some photos of Kirsten, Florian and Quentin.
Kirsten+Florian+Quentin in Silver Spring
Portraits
People appear much more beautiful when they are just being themselves than when posing. The smile on a girl's face who is truly laughing and the curiosity on a boy's eyes when he is really intrigued are hard to be faked. I think a great model is someone who can re-create her natural expressions when she is asked.
Unfortunately, most of us are not trained as a model and not very good at re-creating the moments that make us beautiful. A lot of us are not even aware of how beautiful we are because the moments just come and go before we look ourselves in a mirror. As a photographer, my job is to capture the moments that would otherwise disappear before our eyes, and help us remember for a long time.
When it comes to portraits, my clients are aware of my camera, and the challenge is to make them feel comfortable and be themselves. Sometime I direct them what to do but I prefer to let them have fun with each other and just wait for the right moment. These are some portraits from recent weddings, an engagement session and etc.
