Laszlo Bencze
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 p.2 #20 · Flattery or Truth: My Ugly Portrait | |
I had every intention of replying to all the insightful responses my post garnered. But there were so many good ones that a comprehensive response promised to become a lengthy textbook. So please forgive me mjgphotoz, tonyfield, airfrogusmc, KatieInTexas, dmacmillan, John Caldwell, Wildcats_Fans, and many others as I turn my attention to the single most touching comment on the essence of photography I have ever read and that includes hundreds of books and thousands of magazine articles:
canerino wrote:
I made the distinction to drive at reality when I stepped back from my body of work and realized all I had were images that were of people that I really didn’t know (even though they were my own children!). I would dress them up in their best clothes, hell, I'd even buy something 'cute' for them to wear just so I could photograph. In 20, 30, 50 years...would I even recognize them? This approach also didn’t satisfy me from an artistic point. I'd buy the 'sharpest' lens with the shallowest depth of field that I could afford and make the eyes sharp and blur the background. I don’t think I'd still be shooting today if I were shooting this way.
Putting flattery first caused me to miss the story of my children and their childhood. I missed the fights, the scrapes, the tears, the moments when they just woke up with bedhead. I would also miss the moments that happened in less than ideal light.
...Show more →
Mr. Anerino’s heartfelt words of self-reproach caution us all. What might we be missing as we pump up cuteness, augment the adorable, emphasize sexiness, and steamroll imperfection? The answer is life itself. As for Mr. Anerino, a look at his personal website (which I urge everyone to study: www.growingupanerino.tumblr.com) shows that he learned his lesson and moved on to create images of his family which are wonderful, authentic, lively, real, and truthful. We see newborn babies, children doing homework, playing on the floor, ogling birthday cakes, peeing in the shower, taking naps, reading to one another on the sofa, or leaping from the coffee table. These are pictures that rise way above personal family documentation to the level of fine documentary photography in the grand tradition of Eugene Smith and Elliott Erwitt. They are not merely “my kids” but childhood itself.
But there’s a fascinating aspect to this set of family photos: though they avoid all the standard tricks of flattery (you know the drill) they are intensely beautiful—even the little boy peeing in the shower—and hence deeply flattering. They make the viewer say, “What a beautiful family. What sweet moments. I wish it were mine.”
These musings lead me to the big question: Why do we bother to take good pictures? After all the world is filled with crappy snapshots taken on millions of cellphones and most people seem to ooh and aah about these as if they were treasures from the Louvre. Why go through the hassles brought on by being self critical? Why be diligent in studying the best work of the past and striving to raise our standards to match? That’s hard work.
So here’s the big answer: I believe we are designed to seek for perfect beauty, perfect love, perfect home. If we dig hard enough in our photographic efforts by mastering technique and improving our taste we get glimpses of the perfections we seek. And those hard won glimpses, if we can preserve them well enough to show to others, bring immense satisfaction. No, they will never be perfect. That’s not attainable. But they point towards perfection and that is enough to invigorate our souls and sometimes even the souls of those who see them.
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We all have multiple sides of ourselves that are true to who we are. A basic example is women with makeup on or off. Both are how we see them on a daily basis and how they see themselves. 
Are we over posing in the studio? Are we not getting our clients to relate to us and "forget the camera"?? If sometimes the moment and the subject trump technique and aesthetics how do we justify our profession when there are GWCs and Moms WCs who are very happy with their snapshots that depict Suzy or Johnny "as they are" at some time and place? Can we explain to a bride or client why they shouldn't use a friend to document their wedding, or later, their maternity, newborns, or other life's events? Might they not get lucky and capture the moment better or as well?