All photographs are memento mori. To take a photograph is to participate in another person’s (or thing’s) mortality, vulnerability, mutability. Precisely by slicing out this moment and freezing it, all photographs testify to time’s relentless melt.
— Susan Sontag
Whether portraits are posed and formal or more relaxed and authentic, the photographs we make of family, friends and beloved pets capture and celebrate what we love, what is cherished, what we want to always remember and keep close to our hearts. In this chapter guest contributors and I share tips and techniques that will help you create stunning and artistic individual, group and self-portraits in a variety of settings and lighting situations. We’ll share DSLR and mobile phone tips, as well as general artistic tips that you can use, no matter your photographic device.