Collection Highlight: Hand-crafted Portraits by Foto Sushi

“One of the negative perceptions of stock photographs is that the expressions are goofy, or silly, and ultimately, unusable to the designer,” says Jon Anderson, Founder of Foto Sushi. It’s a frustration deeply felt by designers from around the world, including Jon himself.

Designers are often asked to create multiple versions of a design, be it a banner ad or a print campaign. In order to have a cohesive look, he needs multiple images of a diverse group of people with natural expressions, lit in the same way, and photographed in the same style.

In his many years in advertising, creative and art direction, Jon was consistently dissatisfied with the lack of high-quality, professional images of people available in stock marketplaces. “There is a fundamental disconnect between what stock companies provide and what art directors need,” Jon explains. Photographs and curators are approaching images in completely different ways, and in the end, it’s the designers who have to purchase these photographs that are suffering.

Foto Sushi was born out of this frustration. Jon founded the agency with the motto “Treat our fellow creatives the way we want to be treated,” and built a library of images that put the designer first. As Director of Operations Matt Payne puts it, “it’s about providing the designer with a tool that is easy to manipulate, adjust and work with.”

For their collection of portraits, the team determined five basic expressions, ranging from a confident smile to a prideful grin. On set, models are encouraged to create their own expressions, which helps them relax and often leads to more authentic images. Though Foto Sushi’s models vary in age, background, and wardrobe, what they have in common is that authenticity, unobtrusive retouching, and a well-lit and balanced composition.

Matt likens these images to sushi: “Like a piece of sushi, our photos are carefully created and prepared for the end user. At same time, a sushi roll can work as a set, just the way our expressions do.” In the same way that a hungry diner lights up when a luscious, hand-crafted piece of nigiri is placed in front of them, designers are delighted by the selection of beautiful and meticulously produced portraits from Foto Sushi.

See more of Foto Sushi’s images on Adobe Stock.