“Silvio, do you do portraits? You’re more of an outdoor, landscape photographer, right?”

I DO PORTRAITS, PEOPLE! I DO.

I just don’t advertise it as part of my “menu.” Then again, I don’t exactly say, “I take landscapes” either. If you think about it, being able to take someone’s portrait is part of the deal, it’s like sitting at a restaurant to eat. It’s not the menu, it’s literally the fork. A basic skill every photographer needs to harness to a certain level. Yes, there are photographers who live and breathe portraits and are absolute masters of the craft. But for me (and many of my colleagues), the human face and even more so, the documentation of a person and their character in their place of work, is an essential part of the toolkit.

“For me, people are everything.”

In most of my projects, especially the nature conservation–related ones my perspective always runs through people. It’s how they work to protect an area, how they see the issue, and how they connect with the landscape that informs my photography. Go through my work, and you’ll notice that most of it involves a person or more in the frame. But here I want to talk about portrait-portraits. Not environmental or documentary portraits, not candid street moments. I mean the portraits that companies want for their ‘Team’ or ‘About’ pages the ones that are usually… boring.

Here’s the thing: I love that challenge. It’s considered boring, but I think you can have fun with the premise.

Light? Sure. But not everything.

I don’t obsess over light. I know that sounds counterintuitive. Of course, the light has to work, but I don’t care if it’s one light, three lights, a window, a wall, or just stepping outside the building. It’s a mood thing. The only real anchor is if the client asks for a specific background. Otherwise, it’s a free-for-all. These days, I’m a big fan of constant lighting, LEDs and such. I used to use flash, but now I feel LEDs make things less formal, less alien to the average person. Sure, famous actors are used to flashes popping off, but for most people? It freaks them out a little. Continuous light feels calmer, more natural.

“Continuous light feels calmer, more natural not only to me but more so to the subject.”

And speaking of technical choices, I’ve always loved creating portraits with a slightly wider-than-normal lens. I used to use the Nikon 58mm 1.4G, and now I work with the Fuji GF80mm 1.7 R WR. I love how its softness flatters people’s features, while the focal length pulls the viewer into the frame. I’ll admit, I’m super biased toward this lens (I even wrote a review about it here).

“I’m super biased toward the GF80mm 1.7 it softens features and pulls the viewer into the frame.”

I should also mention the TTArtisan 75mm f/1.5 “Swirly Bokeh” lens, which I absolutely LOVE for portraits. The rendering is wild, dreamy, and so much fun. But for client or company work? I wouldn’t recommend it, it’s super hard to focus and not ideal when you need to move quickly. (I’ll save more about this lens for another post.)

My focus is the interaction

Cheesy as it may sound, that’s what it comes down to. Portraits are about how you make the other person feel in those few minutes you have with them. The night before a project, I’m already preparing. Stressed, excited, restless. I’ve never done it, but I imagine it’s what speed dating feels like: you get a few minutes with one person, then the next, and the next. What matters most is the impression you leave, the way you steer the conversation, and how you capture what you perceive to be their personality or, more accurately, how they want the world to see them, while still adding your own touch.

“You really need to absorb more than you give out.”

In that short window of time, you read body language, micro-movements, tone of voice. You act a role—not as the photographer with the camera, but as someone who can mirror back the best version of the person in front of you.

The challenge of honesty

Of course, portraits are tricky. Even when I feel I’ve nailed the shot, the client might not be convinced. Sometimes I think I break too many barriers, cut too deep, and reveal more of their character than they wanted to show. Why? I think because people today are so used to filtered, AI-smoothed, and staged versions of themselves. Even a selfie on a phone is a made-up reality. So when they’re confronted with something closer to who they really are, it can feel uncomfortable, even if it’s beautiful.

“That’s the challenge: balancing honesty with comfort.”

What I do try is simple: make them feel comfortable, enjoy the process, laugh a little and hopefully, maybe, walk away with a portrait that matters.