Etiqueta: portrait photography

My favourite photography subject is people – I find very few other photography subjects as gratifying. I know that the full moon or the sunset won’t compare to what I can see with my eyes and feel in the moment, and wildlife kind of bores me. People are different though, people are often difficult, shy, self-aware, rigid…so when you manage to capture something of their personality, that glint in their eye, it is photographic gold.

It isn’t easy shooting people as an amateur though – I am always careful about shooting strangers and you never really have more than a few attempts to get that shot. Luckily I have my friend Mandy who tolerates me snapping away and she is incredibly photogenic too. The photos above are some of my favorites – friends and strangers. Some of them I like for the colors and composition, but I think the best ones of these tell a story too – the two children in Gabon, the guy and his dog, the old man from Alex laughing.

Often I practice self-portraits, but these are notoriously hard as you attempt to be photographer and subject….and since you can’t see what you’re shooting before you press the shutter, a lot of the shots are complete failures. There is also the issue of being incredibly aware of yourself, conscious of posing, which i find is not great for a photo unless you are a model. But even then it is manufactured, thought out, not spontaneous. The two below are the more successful ones.