The trouble with any conversation during a portrait session is that, beyond the niceties of ‘Hello’ and ‘Nice weather we are having’, if you really get stuck into a topic that interests someone, that demands thought, the first thing you lose is eye contact as they become preoccupied with thoughts often followed by any sense of composure and sometimes total chaos as the sitting is forgotten and the conversation starts to take over!

I was recently reminded of this challenge when asked by designer Toby Stokes to photograph a wide variety of people for market research company Leftfields new website. Because of the nature of their business, which has great variety, we decided to revisit a natural portrait approach that I had developed and refined for my 2010 street portraiture exhibition We Are Loughborough Junction.

We wanted to show each persons qualities as an individual whilst also making them a part of a series. To achieve this I tried to let everyone flow as much as possible and I shot them without stopping any of the conversation or posing them in a self conscious way. It meant I was shooting in more of a documentary or street style as I was capturing moments as they happened. This free flowing approach led us both on a merry dance that was fun and spontaneous. And if it is fun it is relaxing and, I believe, allows some of their charm and spirit to come out creating the most wonderful moments of life and natural energy.