SOCIAL MEDIA ZEITGEIST

In a visually driven world where trust, personality, and professionalism often hinge on a single image, the value of a compelling portrait cannot be overstated. Ivan Weiss, a London-based portrait photographer with a deep-rooted connection to image-making, has carved out a distinctive space working with clients across the architecture, art, and interior design sectors.

 

In this conversation, Weiss opens up about his journey from childhood darkroom experiments to becoming a sought-after photographer for creatives who care about aesthetics. He discusses why headshots are more than just professional necessities, but also opportunities to communicate values, build trust, and connect on a human level.

Beedier: How did you get into portrait photography?

Ivan: My dad worked as a press and publicity photographer and had a darkroom in the house. There were always old cameras and test prints lying around. When I was 7 or 8 he taught me analogue photography – how to use a darkroom and how to process prints. I loved looking through the viewfinder and focusing in and out. Just seeing the world with a frame around it fascinated me.

When I was older, I got a point and shoot auto-focus with a pop-up flash. But I was pushed away from an artistic path at 16 because I was told I should do something academic because I was clever. It was only much later when I was teaching English in Italy that I came into contact with people who were both clever and doing art, and that got me thinking again that photography was doable. I set it up as a sideline and eventually quit my job and went full time in 2017.

I landed on portraiture as the area that interested me the most because it felt like it had a built-in originality. It’s all about that moment between the photographer and the subject.

Early on I got caught up in corporate work, but after the pandemic decided not to spend time and energy chasing work I didn’t enjoy. Now I work for people in the architecture, art, and interior design worlds – people who are led by aesthetics – so the scope is more creative.

Beedier: Why should companies invest in high quality portraits?

Ivan: People relate to people – a faceless corporation is a negative term. Large multi-nationals spend time and money on marketing trying to get us to think of their brand as if it’s a person. The easiest way to do that when you’re a smaller company is by putting a human face to it. If you can see the real person – how they dress, how they look – that really helps to cement the idea behind the brand. Ultimately, people buy from people, and done well portraits can present those people to their best effect, and in doing so, the brand too.

I don’t think it’s necessarily wrong when you’re starting out to use a beginner photographer who’s doing it for free to build their portfolio – while they might not be the very best, you’ll still get the pictures. But I do think that where you are in your own professional journey, and your choice of photographer, needs to match.

Beedier: Do you normally provide a range of portraits from serious to informal?

Ivan: Often a business owner will want something upbeat. But what if you’re announcing less good news? We’ll provide a selection of portraits with a range of different emotions so that different scenarios are all covered.

Beedier: What is your typical process?

Ivan: The process starts before the booking because clients self-select. People who book have seen something in my work that draws them in. So it’s rare to get a client who isn’t a good fit.

I set up how I work to allow for surprises to happen. I think that’s part of the creative process. I operate on the basis that most people don’t really know what they want until they see it. Trying to describe it in words is so open to interpretation, so it’s much better for them to come into the studio, and for me to shoot a whole ton of options that we can then go through together. I shoot with a camera connected to a computer so that the images are viewable immediately, and after 10 or 15 frames we’ll go through them and the sitter can say which they like, which they don’t, and which are a maybe.

This gives me a good idea of what they’re looking for, and we can then riff off each other as we carry on with the shoot in that direction. It’s a very collaborative process of discovery, and can be a good way to get the unexpected – the star picture may not have been what they’d expected when they came in, but once they saw it, they loved it.

Beedier: What are the common pitfalls of headshots?

Ivan: The biggest issue for the sitter is the tension between wanting to fit in and wanting to stand out. You don’t want to just look like everyone else. But if you lean too far into wanting to stand out, you may create something that has novelty value but no substance. There’s always a balance, and I think everyone goes through a process of finding it.

The truth comes out in a photography session. If people say they want to look a certain way but it’s a mismatch when they try to put that across, you’ll see that in the photos. I’m a big proponent of people leaning into their authenticity.

Beedier: How long does a portrait typically take?

Ivan: An hour if it’s a couple of looks is possible. But two or three hours is much more realistic for most people, especially for those who aren’t regularly photographed in a studio situation, as people take a little time to warm up and accept direction. A strong component of this is establishing trust. We’ll have a chat at the start so that they can say what they want to get from the shoot, and I can work out how nervous they are and how to work with them.

My longest portrait shoot took 8 hours, but that was for an actor with a make-up artist and multiple changes of hair and make-up.

Beedier: Do you encourage clients to come with a bag of clothes options?

Ivan: Yes. I want a range of different moods from the person, and all the other ingredients of the portrait – the wardrobe choices, hair and lighting – need to support whatever those are.

Mostly I’m working with people who are over 30 and have an idea of what works for them and how they’d like to dress. I ask them to bring what they’d wear for a few different scenarios, for example meeting a new client or for an interview, meeting a friend for coffee somewhere about town, and for walking their dog on a Sunday. Between those three things, you generally cover the range of what people like to wear. If someone comes in wearing amazing shoes that are obviously a very considered choice, then we need to include a full-length portrait to get the shoes into the shot.

Beedier: What approach do you take to the background?

Ivan: Generally, I like the background to be unobtrusive, just supporting the rest of the image. I don’t like completely flat backgrounds, but prefer a little bit of texture that suggests some sort of environment without being too obvious. Colour comes down to colour theory, either choosing within a very narrow range to go with the clothes, or maybe going the other way for a complete contrast if someone is wearing something bright.

In the studio we’ve got a choice of 35 different backdrops, 20 different light modifiers, 10 different lights and lots of different stools, tables, chairs that we can bring in whatever we need as appropriate.

Beedier: How do you get the best out of the sitter?

Ivan: Some people definitely give you more to go on, and awkwardness can be a challenge. But part of the psychological game of portrait photography is working out how to get past people’s defences, and I make it my mission to get through somehow.

The trust between the sitter and photographer is what allows for that authentic expression to come through.

I find that one of the easiest ways to establish trust is to delete a photograph of them that they really don’t like. While it can be helpful for people to be relaxed, for some sitters, tension is a good thing. It’s far more important to build trust than to get people relaxed, although there is sometimes an overlap.

Beedier: Should people look at the camera and smile?

Ivan: I’m often asked ‘should I smile?’, and I always say ‘only if I say something funny’. Sometimes, I ask people to give me a serious expression, and then ask them something or say something that makes them smile naturally. It has to be a genuine one, and you’ll never get that by just asking them to do it.

Beedier: How often should people change their headshots?

Ivan: I wouldn’t want them to use the same portraits for too long because I’d obviously like them to come back and have them refreshed. But how often you should change them is different at different stage of your life, and requires a degree of honesty. You have to ask yourself, ‘do my current set of pictures reflect who I am now?’ If not, that’s the trigger to get them updated.

For example, if I got rid of my beard that I’ve had for 15 years, I’d have to redo all my pictures. A career change, for example moving from a corporate role to going out on your own as a consultant, might also be the time to update your photos.

Beedier: How do you navigate post-production ethics?

Personally, I draw the line at changing the shape of a person. I think it feeds into issues of body dysmorphia and idealising things we shouldn’t. I’d only do it if the client really insisted, and I’d always try to dissuade them first. But that’s a very long way from removing a spot on the forehead or some nose hair that wasn’t clipped. I had one guy the other day who asked me to remove a scar. Someone once asked me to remove facial tattoos.

We discuss these things at the end of the session – that’s the point when the trust is as high as it’s ever going to be. And we do it in a very matter-of-fact way, like you would with a doctor.

Beedier: What do you enjoy most?

Ivan: All of it. Portrait photography is such a perfect fit for my personality, because there’s both the extrovert, gregarious part when clients come into the studio and I’m working out what they like and how that fits in with what I want to do, and the introvert aspect of the work when I’m doing post-production. The client bit is where the really exciting moment of creation is, but I get equal value out of both.

Beedier: Who takes your own portraits?

Ivan: I’m often in front of the camera because I teach and mentor. I think it’s a requirement of the job that we put ourselves on the other side of the camera, the same way that therapists have to go to therapy. But I like to take my own portraits as I want the photographs of me to look like my work. I learnt my camera face at a very young age, and I know just the angles I like.

 

Ivan Weiss works from his dedicated portrait studio in London Bridge, where he creates distinctive, authentic images for clients across the creative industries. You can view his portfolio and find out more at www.ivanweiss.london. For enquiries or to book a session, visit the website or get in touch via the contact form.