For one week only, celebrity and royal portrait photographer Rory Lewis returns to New York with a limited series of private headshot sessions running from Sunday 25 May through Saturday 31 May 2026. Based in a Midtown Manhattan studio, this will be Rory's most concentrated New York residency to date — and with only a small number of sittings available across the seven days, places are expected to be claimed quickly.
Rory's reputation has been built quietly, over more than a decade of photographing actors, executives, military officers, and members of royal households in his signature low-key, painterly style. His images sit somewhere between portraiture and cinema — lit like a film still, framed like a Renaissance painting, edited to last. Clients fly in from across the United States and Europe to be photographed by him, and his New York visits have, in previous years, sold out within days of being announced.
This residency is built around the same principles that govern his London studio. Each sitting is unhurried. There is conversation before there is a camera. Wardrobe is reviewed, posture is coached, and the lighting is shaped to flatter the architecture of the individual face, not a generic template. The result is a headshot that doesn't look like a headshot. It looks like a portrait, and it ages well.
Manhattan is uniquely suited to this kind of work. There is something about the energy of the island, the way the light cuts between the towers in late spring, the speed at which professionals here operate, that demands a portrait equal to it. A weak headshot lets a New York résumé down. A strong one carries a person across boardrooms, billing pages, casting calls, magazine bylines, and conference programmes for years.
The 25–31 May window has been chosen deliberately. Late May in New York is one of the year's most flattering periods — warm but not yet humid, golden in the afternoons, alive in the evenings. It is also a natural moment to refresh professional imagery before the summer media cycle and the autumn campaign calendar.
Sittings are available for actors preparing for pilot season callbacks, founders raising new rounds, executives stepping into bigger roles, authors releasing books, and private clients who simply want to be photographed properly, once. Royal and celebrity sittings are not discussed publicly, but the same care is extended to every chair that sits in front of the camera.
To enquire about booking, contact the studio at rorylewis.studio/contact. Sessions are confirmed in the order enquiries are received.
