WHAT IS A PORTRAIT...
The collision of the inner truth and the outer appearance...
A portrait is “a pictorial representation of a person usually showing the face”.
That is a dusty description, probably pre Sigmund Freud -
more of which perhaps another time.
But the portraitist Lucian Freud
described his early 1960’s nude portrait work as,
“he wanted to expose their (his subjects) true selves
having 'a physical and emotional presence',
creating a portrait and not simply a likeness”.
When I work with a person to be photographed,
much of what happens is based on the nature of the greeting,
on whatever familiarity there may be
or may previously have been,
and on the understood limits
of how the picture should work
to answer the needs of egos,
public relations,
the job’s description,
the purpose of the image
and the limitations,
consciously or not
allowing access to the person’s inner being.
If the portrayed looks directly into the lens
the viewer is invited into a dialogue.
In that case, time and distance,
language and cultural differences
are collapsed not into nothingness -
because time and culture are vast rich landscapes -
but onto a narrow, finely structured bridge,
upon which we cross to the portrayed,
constructed by the photographer’s perceptions,
skills and the willingness of the portrayed
to reveal a part of themselves.
The bridge is the photographer’s aesthetics.
In these cases, the viewer gains some access
into the consciousness and humanity of the portrayed.
We see the other, we see into history,
we witness the continuities of our humanity,
and we gain comfort in the eternal.
There are three portraits above.
They were carefully staged, lit and composed studies of people
I had been paid to photograph.
There are three images below I daringly grasped
in the context of their workday lives.
In each situation people allow me only so far into their being.
This is fraught with trust, reputation, with curiosity and concern
for why this stranger (me) was selected to photograph,
or why is this stranger (me) interfering in their life?
Look into these pictures.
See for yourselves what is offered and given,
what is searched for and what is true and honest.
You can see a few minutes of film here with more portraits.