Photography as Past, Present and Future
Some of the pictures in the
slide show(click on left side picture) were made years ago, some were made recently.
I guess you could call the slide show a body of work with a little hint as to where I want to take my pictures. The
picture to the left was taken over 30 years ago. Originally the picture was taken in a portraiture class at the
Germaine School of Photography in New York City. The picture was taken on an 8X10 view camera using a sheet
of color film that had to be placed in a film holder. In those days if you wanted a sharp picture with
little grain and great blow up possibilities this was the camera of choice. Obviously things have changed and
most young photographers have probably never heard of a view camera. I picked the picture to anchor my home page
because the original photograph of the model represented my past and
what I did with this picture many years later represented where I want to go with most of my
pictures. If you have viewed the slide show you can see I don't look at photographs as a fixed unchanging thing that
you can put in a frame and showcase on your wall. I think in the future, at least for some pictures the frame will
be replaced by an LED screen and pictures will be more fluid when displayed in order to enhance whatever the
photographer is trying to communicate. Certainly my views on photography aren't for everyone. Not every
photographer would get rid of most of the picture and replace it with something else or make endless corrections of
a picture until the right combination of subject, background and tonal values produces a picture far from the
original raw file and closer to something I would put in the above video.
There are many good photographers in the portrait photography business. On the sites Photography related page I do mention some photography businesses that are
worth taking a look at. But if you are looking for something a little different than a custom photograph might
be just what you need.
I believe there is only one variation of a single photograph or
picture that expresses everything I want to say about the photograph. I also believe there may be thousands of
variations of a single photograph that will produce a pretty good photograph, and that I have yet to produce a
photograph that shows everything about that photograph that needs to be expressed.
How does the above ideas translate
into a photograph you might want to get a frame for and hang up on your wall? First check out the video below and
read the comments to the left of the video.
First I have to admit I never liked the first picture in the
video. This is the original picture and the rest of the pictures are variations of this picture. Yes the
model is very attractive and in the prime of her life as a hot looking model, and yes I enjoyed the photo session
with her - many of the photos I can't show on this site. But the photograph is boring and it looks like the model
is probably thinking: Gee that guy taking my pictures is really old, I hope he will last till the end of my session
or I hope they are serving low fat pizzas during lunch. The second picture in the slide show tries to show the
different things I can do to enhance a picture. The most obvious is the change in hair color, eyes and the subtle
changes in color and shape of the mouth. In the second picture her mouth looks a little more sultry. I'm sure she
is probably thinking: Damn that photographer is really hot, I wonder what he is doing later tonight. That's my
fantasy and I am sticking with it. I also changed the background a little bit and got rid of the light switch. I
put a halo effect around the model to force the viewer's eyes to zoom in the model. I like the second picture
better but depending on the use for the picture either picture is okay. The rest of the slide show, shows
some(endless possibilities) of the many variations you can create from a single picture.
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"The important point is that the taking of a picture is only the starting point of where you want to
take that picture. Sometimes the ending point results in a banal picture of limited quality, but for me
what makes photography fun and interesting is the time spent working on a picture and trying to figure
out the possibilities that are inherent in every good picture you take." |
And yes, adding a little music from Beethoven's Symphony No.9 adds a
little snap to a dull slide show of a so-so picture. If you want to see the real reason why I started to work on
this photograph click on the Model Photographer page and look for a
picture that looks similar but is completely different.
I am not your usual person running a business in that I don't expect to make a
lot of money from photography. Over time if I get more business my prices will go up in order to do less business.
The important point is I need to spend a fair amount of time developing each picture. It is almost like writing a
novel in that I have to keep revising until I get the type of picture I want. The best pictures I make show a
relationship between the portrait subject and the environment that complements and perhaps hints something about
the subject. I try my best to like the people I take pictures of. Every photograph usually shows some prejudices of
the photographer. I personally only want good things to highlight in my photographs.
I certainly don't have a large impression studio and I would love to have an
assistant to help with the lights and setting up the picture but I don't. I would love to have a make up artist and
a hair stylist but if I did who could afford the pictures. I do use several photo editing and enhancement
software's that improves the appearance of my portrait subjects. My photographs are heavily
manipulated and could be better called a collage masquerading as a photograph.
I believe real beauty resides on the inside of a person. The more I see
it in my portrait subjects the more I will use any means possible to show it on the
outside.
Although I may
be open to some wedding or commercial photography, I am mostly interested in making some interesting, some would
say quirky pictures as a portrait photographer. For a full explanation of the types of portraits I want to make
please check out our special 'Photography
Offerings' section.
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