Portraits that tell a story.
As the upcoming judge of a rather prestigious photographic portrait prize, a few people lately have been asking me what I think makes a great portrait. So as the first entry in my newly created portrait blog, I thought that was a good place to start.
Photographing people is something I happen to be passionate about. I love the chance to engage with someone new and to gain that privileged access to a small part of their personality. I’m fascinated by people. Everyone is different and inevitably everyone has their own story to tell. And that is the challenge for me, to tell their story in a single frame. Photography is like a window through which the audience can take a peek at what lies behind the public facade. My job is to open the blinds, just a little, so the rest of the world can take a glimpse inside.
Portrait photography however is not documentary or photojournalism or paparazzi. I don’t consider it some random image caught in a blaze of flash and motor-drive in a media scrum or an image captured by a sniper with a long lens from across the street. Those images have their place on the menu and are just as valid, but they aren’t in my view portraiture. A documentary image of a beggar on the street shot without their consent or knowledge is not a portrait, its documentary photography. People pictures of any persuasion are not by default portraits. Portraits are considered, constructed and conducted. Even when the photographer deliberately allows the subject to run free in front of their lens. That to me is a technique not a definition. Some I know will disagree, but that’s my view.
Whenever I take a portrait photograph of one of my subjects, the first thing I want to do is engage with them. I need to form a connection with them on some level. More than any other genre, portraits are collaboration between subject and photographer. Even when a subject for whatever reason is uncooperative, it is still collaboration because the way in which they respond to you and the manner in which they conduct themselves, ultimately defines the photograph and in turn the story the picture tells about them.
It is common for people being photographed to be nervous and uncomfortable. So unless that is a primary part of the story you want to tell, then the first task of the photographer is to help them relax and enjoy the experience. Subjects will invariably be looking to the photographer for direction and reassurance. I believe it is the responsibility of the photographer to guide and direct the sitter with confidence and not leave them stranded out in the open with no sense of where they are supposed to be going. I have always said that a good people photographer is like a ring master in a circus or a conductor in front of an orchestra. To be a good people photographer you need leadership and a good measure of showmanship.
If someone is new to portrait photography, my first suggestion is always to get your technical stuff down pat BEFORE you start your session. There is nothing more confusing for a subject than to have the photographer worrying more about the equipment than about them. Like driving a car, learn the gears and how to steer before you take a road trip through the country or you will never see landscape.
Lastly and most importantly, make your story interesting. No one likes a boring story. Be that words or music or a photograph. If John Lennon had written the words to Imagine and put it to a not so catchy tune, no one would have bothered to listen. It is the music that carries the inspiring lyrics that bears the message. Photographs should be the same. Photography is an art and art is built on aesthetics, not technical rendition. The technical side is the craft not the art. Craft is your vehicle. But without craft there is no art, just images. It’s awfully hard to play beautiful music if you can’t hit the notes. That doesn’t mean you have to master the most complicated Beethoven Sonata. Lennon and McCartney couldn’t read music when they started the Beatles and if you have ever looked at some of their early hits you will see the structure was very basic. But it worked and worked wonderfully. So clearly it’s important to learn the craft but not to play beyond your ability. Some of the greatest photographs in the world have been the simplest.
And the final tip is present your masterpiece well. There is no point in producing a wonderfully insightful and artful photograph if the print is flat and dull and horribly pixelated. It would be like listening to that famous song on some worn out transistor radio from the 1960s. Do your picture justice and present it well.
And remember, “Every picture tells its own story”.
© North Sullivan, 13th January 2008
Photographing people is something I happen to be passionate about. I love the chance to engage with someone new and to gain that privileged access to a small part of their personality. I’m fascinated by people. Everyone is different and inevitably everyone has their own story to tell. And that is the challenge for me, to tell their story in a single frame. Photography is like a window through which the audience can take a peek at what lies behind the public facade. My job is to open the blinds, just a little, so the rest of the world can take a glimpse inside.
Portrait photography however is not documentary or photojournalism or paparazzi. I don’t consider it some random image caught in a blaze of flash and motor-drive in a media scrum or an image captured by a sniper with a long lens from across the street. Those images have their place on the menu and are just as valid, but they aren’t in my view portraiture. A documentary image of a beggar on the street shot without their consent or knowledge is not a portrait, its documentary photography. People pictures of any persuasion are not by default portraits. Portraits are considered, constructed and conducted. Even when the photographer deliberately allows the subject to run free in front of their lens. That to me is a technique not a definition. Some I know will disagree, but that’s my view.
Whenever I take a portrait photograph of one of my subjects, the first thing I want to do is engage with them. I need to form a connection with them on some level. More than any other genre, portraits are collaboration between subject and photographer. Even when a subject for whatever reason is uncooperative, it is still collaboration because the way in which they respond to you and the manner in which they conduct themselves, ultimately defines the photograph and in turn the story the picture tells about them.
It is common for people being photographed to be nervous and uncomfortable. So unless that is a primary part of the story you want to tell, then the first task of the photographer is to help them relax and enjoy the experience. Subjects will invariably be looking to the photographer for direction and reassurance. I believe it is the responsibility of the photographer to guide and direct the sitter with confidence and not leave them stranded out in the open with no sense of where they are supposed to be going. I have always said that a good people photographer is like a ring master in a circus or a conductor in front of an orchestra. To be a good people photographer you need leadership and a good measure of showmanship.
If someone is new to portrait photography, my first suggestion is always to get your technical stuff down pat BEFORE you start your session. There is nothing more confusing for a subject than to have the photographer worrying more about the equipment than about them. Like driving a car, learn the gears and how to steer before you take a road trip through the country or you will never see landscape.
Lastly and most importantly, make your story interesting. No one likes a boring story. Be that words or music or a photograph. If John Lennon had written the words to Imagine and put it to a not so catchy tune, no one would have bothered to listen. It is the music that carries the inspiring lyrics that bears the message. Photographs should be the same. Photography is an art and art is built on aesthetics, not technical rendition. The technical side is the craft not the art. Craft is your vehicle. But without craft there is no art, just images. It’s awfully hard to play beautiful music if you can’t hit the notes. That doesn’t mean you have to master the most complicated Beethoven Sonata. Lennon and McCartney couldn’t read music when they started the Beatles and if you have ever looked at some of their early hits you will see the structure was very basic. But it worked and worked wonderfully. So clearly it’s important to learn the craft but not to play beyond your ability. Some of the greatest photographs in the world have been the simplest.
And the final tip is present your masterpiece well. There is no point in producing a wonderfully insightful and artful photograph if the print is flat and dull and horribly pixelated. It would be like listening to that famous song on some worn out transistor radio from the 1960s. Do your picture justice and present it well.
And remember, “Every picture tells its own story”.
© North Sullivan, 13th January 2008
Labels: art, australia, life, photography, portraits, portraiture, sydney
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