airfrogusmc wrote:
I personally prefer the portraits of photographers like Newman or Bresson to some of the over posed portraits of say Zucker and many of the PPA type portraits. I tend to think that great portraits are the ones that capture a little piece of the sitter. But having said that intent and what the image will be used for is so important. A portrait that needs credibility in many advertising situations might be different than say a portrait that needs to make someone look better than they actually look. So intent is very important because the two approaches are different as are the end results..
A couple of quotes by Newman and Bresson.
\"There are no rules and regulations for perfect composition. If there were we would be able to put all the information into a computer and would come out with a masterpiece. We know that\'s impossible. You have to compose by the seat of your pants.\" - Arnold Newman
\'It seems dangerous to be a portrait artist who does commissions for clients because everyone wants to be flattered, so they pose in such a way that there’s nothing left of truth.\" - Henri Cartier-Bresson
I think that your portrait, even more so after hearing your intent, is very successful. As I said earlier, I think that you captured something of who he is.
In my view, what guys like Zucker did was to create a series of rules based upon classic portraiture (going back into painted portraits)... a very rigid system that nonetheless contained a great deal of truth. Part of what I\'m doing with this type of portrait is attempting to explore some of the \"why\" in the things the classic portrait artists did, and trying to understand how the underlying principles may be utilized, adapted, or even deliberately subverted in the pursuit of a photograph that fits my perception of the subject. All techniques are just communication tools, really.
I admire the spontenaity and raw honesty of the portraitists you\'ve mentioned, along with even more austere examples such as Arbus and Avedon. However, I find that for my own work my goal is to retain some of that honesty and spontenaity, but also to find the best in the sitter. Obviously these are high aspirations and ones in which I continually fall short, but this is what I am working on.
So what I\'m really looking for here is what WORKED in classic portraiture, WHY did it work, and how may I utilize those rules in support of a portrait that balances accuracy and kindness to the subject.
Nov 11, 2013 at 05:12 PM
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