Only a close-up photograph gives you time and permission to admire a stranger’s eyes.
The eyes are powerful magnets. They’re the center of trust, confidence, inner life. When someone really connects with the camera, you feel like they’re really seeing you. We do call them soul-windows, after all.
For a long time I envied people with blues, hazels, greens, and iridescents. They demand you look into them. But with good light, brown eyes look like an asteroid smashed the earth, then vanished, leaving nothing but a mysterious mountain valley.
We often forget about them, but they’re the most powerful trust-building tool we have in business. They’re the hardest place to fake authenticity.
How do you build trust at a distance?