Luke Feeney is a portrait master.

Checking out Australian photographer Luke Feeney’s work, one thing quickly becomes clear: he has a real knack for eliciting natural and organic responses from his subjects. His portfolio (or at least the snaps below) is littered with images that seem to peer beyond the model’s exterior and go in deeper, creating an end product that is often more revealing than your standard portrait.

“As a young kid, Mum would occasionally let me take a photo with the family 35mm film camera,” he says of his introduction to photography. “Film was expensive back then, as it is today. With a firm watching eye, Mum would let me take a few photos, all the while keeping track of my overeager trigger finger. When the roll of film had seen its share of birthday parties and grandparent visits, we would go to Big W to get the one hour film processing done.”

When he was well and truly old enough to purchase his own film he left his rural NSW hometown and spent a decade working at sea in the Pacific Ocean. Then, like so many others, he felt the creative pull of the buzzing East Coast hotspot Byron Bay that gave him “the confidence to explore the photographic medium further. It was not long before I dropped my shyness and portraits became a focus in my photography,” he says.

On his photographic journey, he also taught himself how to tintype – an old school method of developing photos that give his pics that epic vintage look – proving that he is truly dedicated to understanding every facet of his craft.

His portfolio speaks for itself. Check out some of his coolest snaps below and head here to follow him on IG: