Portraiture

Thought I would add some more of my portraiture in the blog this week, so here's the first installment. What I find behind the a lens is so different than what people think of themselves, more often than not. I love being able to show them a different view to themselves. A true view, make no mistake about that, but a different one how they perhaps never saw themselves. It brings me great joy to show a mother of a graduating high school boy the love in his eyes when is captured grabbing her for a hug, or the always serious couple caught laughing and it turns out to be their favorite shot. I don't claim to be Annie Lebowitz or Sam Jones or anybody. I'm just me, and the people I shoot are just themselves. I like it that way. I do get an opportunity now and then to shoot local and national musicians, and that is great fun, but in my heart I know portraiture is where I belong.

I think people forget that they used to be children when they think about getting photographs taken. They seem surprised at the width of their own smiles, or how shiny their eyes are. That makes me smile. They seem to lose inhibitions about 25-50 shots into a shoot and then the real fun starts.

Then there are some people who are naturals when it comes to being in front of a camera. They have no qualms about the crows feet or the crooked tooth. No hangups about anything you ask them to do. Then you have those people who are so beautiful in life, you think you can't possibly do them any more justice in film, but even then they find something that they hadn't seen in themselves. Then there's children, they are so unpredictable, but that's almost the very best part of photographing them. I can't imagine everyone not wanting to do this. I am none happier than when I get to photograph people. I, however absolutely HATE having my own picture taken. It's a weight issue, my eyes bother me, believe me, I can come up with a million reasons, so don't bother trying. I'll just stay behind here, thanks, it will benefit us both that way.

If you were asked to pose for a photo, what would your reaction be. I mean really, think about it. most of us shy away. I'm going to try and not do it so often, even if I only use those images as stepping stones to how I want to look in a few more months when I have lost the weight I aim to lose.

The true victory for me will be when I can have a photo taken of me where I am not having my hands under my chin (double chin) and my eyes are open wider and focused better on the photographer/camera. I leave you with the thought that no matter how we see ourselves, there will always be other people who see us so differently than us. We can learn so much from that. Beauty is not just what's on the surface, that's the superficial, yes there are beautiful and striking features that some people possess, but real beauty is ALWAYS in the details. The eyes, the crinkles around your nose when you smile, that scar you got as a child whilst roller skating, the birthmark, the dirt beneath a boys fingernails after he's been playing in the mud with the trucks, the ribbons on an Easter dress, the way a son looks at his mother, the way a woman looks at the man she loves, the way a child holds their parents hand. That, my friend, is beauty and you have it. It's always been there. All you have to do is look.