Taking That Step

People commission portraits of themselves or loved ones for many reasons. You may want to mark a special person or special occasion – a milestone birthday or life transformation, a new resolution, a career success, a desire to boost your confidence or to mark a new-found confidence. To explore and celebrate who you are and what you have become.

You may be an experienced collector wanting to expand your portfolio, or you may be entirely new to collecting. This may be the first serious work of art that you buy – for the sheer joy of owning something unique.

When you commission a portrait that image becomes part of an ongoing body of work that stretches across the last decade and currently comprises  over 250 portraits in the series from around 300 shoots to date. A #harshbeautiful portrait is definitely not a vanity project. It’s a gritty, distinctive portrait confirming a rich inner beauty, and a moment of self-reflection. A defiant embrace of independence, middle age or later years!

About The Photo Shoot

Photo shoots take place in my studio near Oval Cricket Ground in South London. The whole event normally takes around 90 minutes to two hours, and is very easygoing. Here is more information about the shoot experience.

Editions & Prices

Each #harshbeautiful portrait shoot results in a highly detailed, collector quality fine art print that can take up to 15 hours of post-production work to perfect. Commissioned portraits are currently produced in limited editions of five (plus two artist’s proofs), in two sizes, 60 x 40 cm (£950.00) or 90 x 60 cm (£1,230.00), though I am happy to discuss alternative size options with you. Portraits are issued as C-Type prints on archival paper, with signed confirmation of their unique status.

In effect when you commission a portrait, you are purchasing the first edition print in the series, and granting permission for me to exhibit, publish, or sell the remaining editioned prints. I’ll need you to sign a model release to confirm this for me before the shoot.

Your Limited Edition Print

It normally takes a month to six weeks after the shoot for me to complete the final highly detailed print for you to collect. In the meanwhile I will also send you a web-resolution watermarked electronic copy as soon as it’s ready, which you are welcome to upload to social media with a credit to me.

Your first edition print will be provided unmounted. I’d be very happy to advise on framing options, and can refer you to a specialist company that frames my exhibition prints.

Additional Images

Sometimes it can be fun to take an informal smiling shot, in addition to your official #harshbeautiful portrait. These are most likely to be web resolution versions for social media, in which case I will always provide you with your own watermarked electronic copies for you to share on social media too.

Very occasionally after an exceptional studio session I may select additional images for editing into high resolution exhibition standard portraits – in which case I will always give you an electronic web resolution copy, with the option to pay for a high resolution artist’s proof copy at half price, or to buy an editioned print at the same price as your original print. There’s no pressure to decide this right away; the offer will be open for three months.

Confirming Your Shoot

If you are interested in commissioning a portrait please contact me. I will answer any questions you may have, provide you with a copy of the model release, and we can then confirm a date and time for the shoot.

A 66% deposit is required beforehand, and the remainder is to be settled before collection of the print. Please note that once a shoot has been booked there is a 33% fee for cancelling at less than a months notice, and your deposit is forfeited for cancellations at less than 2 weeks notice.

I really look forward to spending time with you, and very much hope that this will be a special experience for you.

James M Barrett

james@jamesmbarrett.com

 

..

end