A philosopher once wrote “The face is the soul of the body”. While one might not agree with the implications of that statement, a person’s facial expressions are a reflection of their personality whether or not they are aware of it.  As photographers, we are more or less successful at capturing the essence of a person in a single photo. 

It’s redundant to say that faces are pictured everywhere now that digital media and the internet put literally billions of images in front of us every day.  And yet the oversaturation created by social media and selfies has made it, if anything, more difficult to create an image that goes to the essence of the subject. The existence of facial recognition software and the consequent loss of personal boundaries may contribute to a guardedness that makes emotional expression feel even more threatening.  Thus the challenge to the photographer is to establish a rapport that creates openness. This can even apply in self portraiture.