I'm trying to expand my portrait photography portfolio beyond just families and kids, to capturing a variety of people and peronalities. My latest was with John Ahern, one of the elders in the expat community here in Nagoya. John performs weddings, works at universities and is an actor with the Nagoya Players. When I put out a request for models, he was gracious enough to answer my call and we decided to meet in Osu Kannon, which is one of the funkier areas in Nagoya. I'd met John a few times while taking photographs for the Nagoya Players last production, Shine, but we hadn't ever talked much, so it was nice to have a long chat and get to know him better. For this shoot, I really wasn't sure what the focus should be on. With family, maternity, business and event photography, the focus is clear, but this didn't fit those categories, so I drew a blank. John was very nice about it, though, and we ended up just walking around, talking and looking for iconic spots that represent Osu. Giving instructions is probably my biggest challenge as a photographer, but the more we talked, the more I got a feel for who John is and was able to relax and just let the photos come. It also helped that John is an actor and was happy to perform for the camera. We ended up walking for a couple of hours despite the heat and humidity, but I think the muggy evening added to the feel of the photos.