A person and their portrait. Definitely one of the most challenging subjects to photograph. The face is the main focus, it is everything in a portrait. There are forty- three muscles in the face, which can change in a nano second, giving an endless combination of expressions. No two images are the same, even taken half seconds apart. Here’s the challenge. Trying to capture an elusive expression that best describes who and what the person is all about. Given the time delay it takes to open and close the camera’s shutter, you may not get the expression you just saw in their face. But a similar expression is captured and that’s a photograph to choose from.
I focus on the person’s eyes, that is where their story comes from, and it shows up in the photograph. The eyes can tell a lot or a little about the person, but the story is still there. It is the eye/heart connection we all make with one another, whether we know them or not. In portraits where the person is looking away from the camera lens, I still focus on their eyes. There’s no eye connection, so we look at the whole face at once while still looking for their story.
When I photograph a family or a group together, it’s the same process, it’s just more eye connections. More fun.
