How One Teen Found Confidence Through a Powerful Portrait Session

Andrew’s mother recently spent a special day with me for her 40 Over 40 Portrait Experience Campaign session. Not long before her Reveal and Ordering Session, she called and asked if we could talk privately about her son. She shared that her 13-year-old—slight, self-described as “nerdy,” and biracial—had been experiencing bullying at school. As she told me about this, she also spoke of how deeply meaningful her own session had been. She was excited to see her portraits, and she wondered: could I do something like this for teens?

She hoped I might find a way to gauge Andrew’s interest in a session without making him feel pressured. When she arrived at the studio with her husband and Andrew, the three of them sat together for her image reveal. Andrew offered polite, thoughtful feedback on the portraits he liked best. As we discussed the impact the session had on her, the whole family weighed in on choosing her final selections—including the image that would represent her in the 40 Over 40 campaign.

At that point, I turned to Andrew and asked what he thought of the session, now that he had seen and heard how powerful the experience was for his mom. He responded with genuine interest. I asked him about his hobbies and passions—golf, music, and his recent recognition from the local Chamber of Commerce for a teen invention award (how cool is that?). Then I gently asked whether he might be open to doing a portrait session of his own.

Without hesitation, he replied, “Oh, yes!”

In planning his session, I coached his dad on what I called a relaxed formal look—something timeless and clean—and a more polished “Ralph Lauren” aesthetic, because I wanted to photograph the two of them together. The shoot itself was full of energy and variety. We captured Andrew in his golf outfit, complete with club, then moved into a jazzy vibe with his horn. He rocked a laid-back, Florida-cool look with a hoodie and jeans, and for the final look, we set up a striking portrait of Andrew and his dad using an antique chair as a visual anchor.

Of course, I also carved out quiet moments to photograph Andrew alone, where his introspective, old-soul nature came through. These images revealed a thoughtful, budding entrepreneur with a calm confidence beyond his years. As I reviewed the close crop of one particular portrait, the words “CEO in Training” came instantly to mind—and that became the title of the piece.

Technical Details
Photographed in my studio using a Nikon Z7ii with a Nikkor 24–70mm lens at f/6.3, 1/200s, ISO 200. For most of my sessions, I prefer to shoot slightly underexposed to preserve detail.

Lighting setup:

• Main light: Einstein with a 51” PLM bounce umbrella, double-diffused, camera left at 45°, angled slightly for a soft butterfly lighting effect.
• Fill light: 64” PLM bounce umbrella, double-diffused, directly behind me.
• Hair light: 10″x38″ strip light placed camera left, just off the corner of the backdrop, angled downward slightly toward his head (bottom of strip at head height).
• Modifiers: Black side of a V-flat about 2 feet from the right side of the chair, and white side of another V-flat 2 feet to his left (camera left).

Post-Processing
Initial edits in Lightroom included adjustments to white balance, highlights, contrast, whites, and blacks. In Photoshop, I retouched the background, clothing, chair, and skin blemishes. I used curves layers for subtle dodge and burn, filled in hair where needed, and finished with Mixer Brush and Smudge tools to “paint” in texture and depth on the hair, jacket, and chair.