We fear (fine, we know) that photographic evidence of our wine face is a bleary-eyed, saggy-mouthed mistake destined for deletion. Or, worst case, eminently unsatisfying detagging.

Feel then for photographer Marcos Alberti's friends, the slightly drunken visages of whom have now gone global as part of the Brazilian photographer's 3 Glasses Later project.

Alberti shot four portraits of each person, the first as soon as they arrived at his for drinks, then after their first, second and third glasses of wine. And while poses are held a little looser and hair may be slightly more dishevelled, on the whole there's a lot of grinning and giggling.

He explains on his website: “There is a saying about wine that I really like and it's something like this: ‘The first glass of wine is all about the food, the second glass is about love and the third glass is about mayhem.’ I really wanted to see it for myself if that affirmation was in fact true.

“The first picture was taken right away when our guests have just arrived at the studio in order to capture the stress and the fatigue after a full day after working all day long and from also facing rush hour traffic to get here […] By the end of the third glass several smiles emerged and many stories were told.”

The fact that many of us recognise that scenario, the ritual of unwinding with friends and letting go of the day, is probably why the project has attracted so much attention; laughter getting louder, faces getting animated and the classic starting with amazing hair and ending up just shoving it out of your face.

He told indy100 that his friends didn't entirely know what they were letting themselves in for when they arrived, and that he wanted to show “the lighter side of drinking”.

“I only saw bad things about alcohol, so I wanted to show that, in a good and happy environment, with friends and with moderation, alcohol can be a good thing. It brings people together.”

We're holding out for ‘three bottles and an ill-advised cheese-based midnight snack later’ – we can but dream.

See more images from 3 Glasses Later below and the full series on Alberti's website here, or follow him on Facebook and Instagram.

Images: masmorrastudio.com