My first portrait subject was my daughter Kelly. I said to her, “how about you let me take your senior photos?” She kind of wanted to get professional ones done. So I told her, “How about this? You let me try. If you don’t like them, you can go to the professional.”
She liked them – at least well enough that she didn’t ask to go have them taken again.
I’ve learned a bit more about lighting for portraits since then. But this was my beginning.