Chris, First Time

Downtown Greensboro has enough variety in a few blocks to keep a shoot moving. Brick walls and wooden doors, green painted storefronts, black and white tile steps, a public art panel catching the late afternoon sun. Chris had never been in front of a camera before, and it showed at the start in the best way, that particular kind of stillness that comes from not yet knowing what to do with yourself.

By the time we moved outside he had found his footing. He grinned wide against the brick wall, sat easy on the storefront steps, and let the sun flare in behind him while he leaned against the etched metal panel in Center City. The mirror shot back inside was one of the first frames, and it caught something honest, a smile that hadn't learned yet to be performed.

That tends to happen when someone shows up without any preconceptions about how they're supposed to look. Chris came with nothing but himself, and that turned out to be exactly enough.