Adele Silva / Studio Portraits with James Melia

I’ve known Adele for a long time. Long enough that the nerves aren’t really about the camera anymore. They’re about doing something honest with someone you already care about. There’s a different responsibility in that. Less performance. More listening.

We were working in my Manchester studio, keeping things deliberately straightforward. No overthinking locations or concepts. Just space to settle. Studio light does that well when you let it. It removes distractions. It asks a softer question: who are you today, not who were you last year or who do you think you should be.

The intention was refreshment. Not reinvention. Headshots that felt current and calm. Useful, yes, but also true. We talked a lot between frames. About work. About time passing. About how strange it is to look back at earlier versions of yourself and feel both fondness and distance. That conversation shaped the pace. Nothing rushed. No pushing for expressions. Just letting things surface when they were ready.

Working with someone who understands the process changes everything. There’s trust already built into the room. Fewer instructions needed. Fewer explanations. I could step back a bit and respond rather than direct. Adjusting light by inches. Waiting through silences. Letting small shifts happen instead of forcing big ones.

What I noticed most was restraint. Not holding back exactly, but choosing what didn’t need to be said with the face. That’s often where the strongest frames live. Somewhere between effort and ease. The kind of expression that doesn’t ask to be read, but is readable anyway.

We shot quietly. Music low. Breaks when needed. A few outfit changes, but nothing showy. The goal was clarity. Images that would sit comfortably on a casting profile without shouting for attention. Headshots that feel like they belong to the same person walking into the room.

I think that’s why this one mattered to me. It wasn’t about proving anything. It was about continuity. Photographing someone at a point in their career where experience shows up not as hardness, but as confidence. The kind that doesn’t need polishing.

By the end, it felt less like finishing a session and more like closing a conversation you’ll pick up again later. Those are usually the shoots that stay with me.

This was a reminder of why I still love studio portraiture. How little you actually need when the collaboration is right. A bit of light. Time. And someone willing to show up as they are.
@Adelesilva