Pye Jirsa is a director, photographer and educator. Founder and Partner of Lin and Jirsa Photography, a boutique Southern California wedding and portrait photography studio composed of an incredible creative team that shoots over 300 weddings each year, with nearly 1,000 yearly client commissions.
Jirsa is also founder and partner in SLR Lounge, a premium educational community geared towards providing photographers with real-world shoot education with nearly a million monthly readers.
Pye Jirsa shares perhaps one of his most memorable portraits to date–photographing his great-aunt and great-uncle together as a couple. He points out how the beauty and impact of this photo could not be attributed to gear or lighting, but rather the creation of a unique moment that helped his subjects forget about the camera. Through one directorial piece of information — asking his great-uncle the last time he held his great-aunt’s hand — Jirsa created an authentic moment between the couple that urged them to take note of one another instead of the camera in front of them.
Through this experience, Jirsa reminds photographers of an often over-looked but imperative quality in portraiture–authenticity. The best photos are not the ones taken by the highest-quality or most expensive equipment but instead images that capture a rare or intimate moment among subjects. Check out the full video below to see the evolutions of the photo as a result of Jirsa’s guidance.
To learn more from Pye Jirsa about capturing authentic photos and starting your own photography business, check out his course How to Launch a Photography Business on CreativeLive.
