"Do you want me to smile?"

A blog by photographer Jason Ashwood

Why do we feel we have to smile in our corporate portraits? 

My answer to this common question from most subjects is, “Well, how do you want to look?”

Only at that point does a discussion begin because now I believe the subject enjoys the opportunity to think beyond what they feel is a standard ‘stand in front of the camera and smile’ session to something where they are engaged and involved in the process.

Last month, I photographed a series of barristers. 

“No,” I replied to the inevitable question. “You don’t have to smile. How do you want to represent yourself?”

“Hmmm,” he pondered for a while before looking over his eyebrows and uttering, “Approachable. With a hint of menace…” We succeeded.

How do you want people to see you? 

However you want to look - as an easygoing and supportive member of HR, a trial barrister who’ll win your defence case, or someone approachable yet with some gravitas that you’d happily discuss managing your pension fund with - it’s worth taking time to think your image through. People surfing the web will hover for moments on your portrait. Make them stay.

Take it one step further even. How do you want to represent your organisation’s brand through your staff imagery? Consistent and cohesive?

No one image defines a person, so invest in a variety of moods. I shoot for one client who uses a range of image styles to perform different marketing needs, and very successfully, too.  

As the great portrait photographer Yousuf Karsh wrote in his autobiography In Search of Greatness (1962), ‘A good portrait is a work of collaboration, the result of a meeting of minds, even though the collaboration may last for only a fraction of a second.

'If we can find 20-30 minutes together in a boardroom, we have a fighting chance of good collaboration and your choice of how you want to look to become a reality.

Personally, I like to instil some quietness into my sessions and see what naturally presents itself. “Let the portrait evolve,” my mentor advised me years ago. I’ve never forgotten that. As ethereal as the goal may be, I’m always seeking a corporate portrait that feels authentic and that my subject sees themself in. We invariably get there because they invest a little time - and themselves - in doing so. 

Could that look be through a smile? 

Of course. 

Could it be through a hint of menace? 

Why not?

I’m so fond of this portrait of Lady Mara Galeazzi OMRI, former principal dancer of The Royal Ballet, acquired by the National Portrait Gallery. As I wrote in her memoir Shadow Aspect, that day Mara struggled with a slight chest infection, had been rehearsing all day, then danced for me to document her own choreography, after which I asked to take a portrait of her. 

Big ask. 

You’ll see Mara’s gorgeous smile across social media, but that smile wouldn’t have told a viewer much of what I met that evening. Her physical grace yet robustness, mental resilience, and occasional steely glare sit behind that delightful smile. I wanted to hint at that. 

Look through Karsh’s A Biography in Images and in the first forty portraits you’ll see two smiles, a range of warm expressions, and much seriousness. 

Smiling or not, they’re all compelling.

Please visit my Projects Gallery for a broader insight into my work.