As photographers, we rarely get our way when it comes to which images are used in publications and it can honestly be a bit of a bummer. Especially as a portrait photographer when your goal is to represent your subject in the most honest way possible. When a photo editor or creative director makes the selects, the audience could be seeing something very different than what the photographer intended. 

My recent spread with Tessa Thompson for Variety is a good example of this. I think the images chosen are beautiful but they don’t exactly represent the spirit I felt in her while working together. This could be because a magazine and/or the talents team have a specific goal in mind with the images used and that might not align perfectly with who the subject is. Either way, this is the image that I like most from the series Variety used. No clue if anyone would noticed a difference or even care but to me it matters and Tessa agrees that this image feels more like her.