One roll, one light

Every session starts the same way. One roll goes into the camera, one light goes up on the stand, and the person in front of the lens gets thirty six chances to stop performing.

The first ten frames always belong to the sitter. They check their hair, their hands, the angle of their chin. Somewhere around frame twelve the shoulders drop and the real portrait begins.

Back in the darkroom the contact sheet tells the story in order. The keeper usually sits two or three frames after the moment I thought I had it.