Portrait of Fadya. In studio. Thoughts about portraits.

 

Nearly every portrait I see on social media falls into one of two categories: flirty partial nudity or environmental available light. Sometimes the two categories cross over. I guess titillating images of young women will always be in style in the same way that reality TV seems to always be in style; at least to some audiences. And I guess photographers will never tire of showing off how they can make a background go out of focus; either digitally or with the right lens but a steady diet of maple syrup gets cloying and old after a white.

My preference when photographing people in general and women specifically is to try to reveal something human and special about them. I'm always less interested in bodies than I am in eyes, expressions, gestures and connection. I find those things several layers more captivating than the unsubtle reveal of yet another overly ample butt. 

The problem is that to get a look that goes beyond the Teen Beat magazine stuff the photographer has to bring more to the table than the ability to operate a camera (and occasionally some lighting) and talk young women into revealing and salacious poses. Instead of barking out commands the photographer might be better served and improve his craft by actually taking time to talk to his or her models. Not that, "Beautiful!!! Beautiful!!! Can you unbutton that next button??? Beautiful!!! isn't at least one side of a conversation.

It seems obvious to me, after looking back over 40+ years of work, that the sessions which failed were the ones built around trying to elicit a "sexy" look with a model or talent and the one's that I found to be successful were portraits that were the result of long conversations, lots of listening, gentle suggestions, lots of collaboration and a sincere respect for those on both sides of the camera. 

I have a session coming up in the next week or so with a very beautiful, young woman I met through swimming. We won't be doing swim suit shots or making an effort to glorify her body. Instead we'll go with the Skrebneski classic of a black sweater or pullover and a tight head and shoulders cropping. Instead of taking the modern track of Instagram-able allure we'll work on getting just the right look in my talent's eyes and just the right expression. And I'll be thrilled when it works the way we hope. 

Camera stuff? Not even thinking about it. If I haven't mastered the mechanics by now I probably never will.