Candid Connections

For Tessa Dillman, the path to portrait photography began at home. Raised by parents who were both artists, she was especially influenced by her mother, an accomplished photographer whose approach to portraiture challenged convention. “My mom mostly photographed kids,” Tessa says. “But she had a very specific thing she would tell her subjects: no smiling. She captured all of these really great pictures of children where they’re very serious and stoic, and that’s what got me into portraiture. I loved how natural it all felt.”

That fascination with authentic expression continued when Tessa studied photography in college. She initially photographed children, but over time, her interests expanded to include subjects of all ages. “I realized I needed to photograph everybody,” she says. “It needs to be older people, younger people, and everyone in between. Faces in general are intriguing to me, and I didn’t want to limit myself to a certain age range.”

Today, Tessa’s portraits carry a timeless, painterly quality, emphasizing mood, texture, and human connection over technical perfection. Helping create her look is the Tamron 18-300mm Di III-A VC all-in-one zoom lens, featuring high-resolution image quality through the entire zoom range and proprietary Vibration Compensation technology to eliminate camera shake. “I love this lens because it helps make my images look like film,” she says. “There’s something it does with color and the way it shapes light that feels different from other lenses. It can also go super grainy, which is a look I gravitate towards.”

That organic aesthetic aligns with the Old World artistic influences that inform much of Tessa’s portraiture, including classical paintings, drawings, and sculpture. “Those artists spent so much time with their subjects,” she says. “There’s a level of intimacy there that I find inspiring.”

That sense of soft, easy closeness extends to her lighting. Although she frequently works with strobes, Tessa prefers a simple setup, often relying on a softened single light source. “Recently, I’ve started experimenting with continuous lighting, because it feels more like the sun,” she says. “I normally shoot with a huge umbrella, and if I’m photographing someone or something super-close, I’ll use a small softbox. With some macro work I’ve been doing lately, I’ve even used a handheld LED light brick that I can move around during the shoot, all with the same goal of creating soft, flattering light that keeps the focus on my subject.”

Rather than building elaborate sets, Tessa keeps distractions to a minimum, allowing viewers to concentrate on the person in front of the camera. “My compositions often incorporate symmetry and balance,” she says. “If I shoot something at an angle, I’ll often end up correcting it later on during the editing process. Things have to line up somehow in my photos. It’s just my personality.”

Tessa’s sessions develop naturally, too, with light beverages and some casual conversation before segueing into the session. “The whole idea of abruptly announcing, ‘OK, we’re going to start taking pictures now!’ has never really worked for me,” she says. “The same goes for poses. I want my subjects to look natural and comfortable. I recently got these Japanese tatami mats that are very comfortable to lie on, so I’ll often have my subjects start off by getting on the floor. And, like my mom, I go for photos that aren’t what you’d expect: no smiling, sometimes looking straight at the camera and sometimes looking out a window, side profiles. I think everybody has an interesting side profile, because noses are so specific and unique.”

Read on for the backstory on four recent favorites that Tessa created with the Tamron 18-300mm VC.