French photographer and director Romain Laurent started making portrait-based GIFs as a way to produce work outside his commercial jobs, a spontaneous project that would encourage him to produce consistently for himself rather than clients.

Models dance during the presentation of Stella McCartney's Spring-Summer 2017 ready-to-wear fashion collection presented Monday, October 3, 2016 in Paris. (Photo by Francois Mori/AP Photo)

People wearing costumes walk during Halloween in Sierra Madre, California, U.S., October 31, 2017. (Photo by Mario Anzuoni/Reuters)

Angel Paz, dressed as a calavera, waits with family for the start of the Gran Procession of the Catrinas, to mark the upcoming Day of the Dead holiday, in Mexico City, Sunday, October 23 2016. (Photo by Anita Baca/AP Photo)

A health worker makes a heart with her hands while waiting to take swab samples from people in the Jing' an district of Shanghai on May 31, 2022, as the city prepares to lift more curbs after two months of heavy-handed restrictions. (Photo by Hector Retamal/AFP Photo)

An Indian man feeds peanuts to monkeys along a busy street in Ahmedabad on July 31, 2016. Feeding animals is sacred in Hindu society. (Photo by Sam Panthaky/AFP Photo)

Trainer Lawney Hill poses for a photograph as she wears tights over her face to keep out the cold after taking her horses out on the all-weather gallops in Tetsworth, Britain, March 2, 2018. (Photo by Eddie Keogh/Reuters)

A performer entertains the crowd during a rally in support of the leader of the Cameroonian opposition party Movement for the Rebirth of Cameroon (MRC) in Yaounde, on September 30, 2018, prior to the upcoming October 7, presidential elections. (Photo by Marco Longari/AFP Photo)