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|| SportsShooter.com: News Item: Posted 2007-06-04
Gray Matters: What's the deal with the bad portraits?
Jim Merithew says if we are going to use portraits to escape ethically challenging situations they can't be mediocre.
By Jim Merithew, San Francisco Chronicle
Photo by Jim Merithew / San Francisco Chronicle
Kacy Niemeier, 12, hopes to one day skate in the United States Figure Skating Championship, but for now must be satisified being an ice caddy and skating in the opening ceremonies. Merithew took control of this situation and made a portrait HIS way.
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"Mediocre," said Henri Cartier-Bresson, about a set of portraits David Douglas Duncan had taken of him. "It's just what comes out of a camera when a camera works."
Like Henri I have often wondered what's the deal with the bad portraits. It is the one photographic situation where we are in total control. We control which lens we use, where the subject stands, whether or not we are going to use lights, how many and where we put them. We control where we stand and when we press the button.
Yet so many portraits are embarrassingly lame.
If we are going to use portraits to escape ethically challenging situations they can't be mediocre.
"Portraits are a source of panic because the photographer is in control," said Geri Migielicz, Director of Photography at the San Jose Mercury News.
"I think it's natural to be afraid of what we are in total control of, creatively speaking. When doing so, we have no excuses for whether the shoot was a success or failure, it's our fault," said Jay Clendenin, a freelance photographer, San Jose State grad, and California native.
Just as you are hopefully educating yourself by looking at great news, sports and feature photography you should take some time to discover great portrait photography.
Famous portrait photographers like Richard Avedon, Diane Arbus, Annie Liebovitz, Irving Penn and the like should be a great source for inspiration or even emulation in our portrait photography. We should also look at the photographs being done by the likes John Lee, Jay Clendenin, and Darren Carroll for how they approach their work.
"Personally, I have hundreds of books by photographers known for their portraits. I want to get ideas (steal!). I want to learn (steal!). I want to be better than the other photographers in my market, so I get the assignment and they don't," said Clendenin.
We don't need to dunk everyone in chocolate or paint all of our subjects funny colors or strip them naked and put them on horseback to make successful portraits, but we could all use to be more thoughtful and inspired in our portrait execution.
The one quality all great portraits possess is that little slice of time where the subjects reveal themselves to the photographer. It is not an easy thing to identify and is an even harder thing to capture, but it is something to aspire to in your portraits.
"A portrait photographer depends on another person to complete his picture," said Richard Avedon. "The subject imagined, which in a sense is me, must be discovered in someone else willing to take part in a fiction he cannot possibly know about. My concerns are not his. We have separate ambitions for the image. His need to plead his case probably goes as deep as my need to plead mine, but the control is with me."
Your portraits will also be greatly enhanced by the use of a little journalism. I was once assigned to photograph a local author. I, of course, arrived at his house during a prolonged interview. I hung around until the reporter was finished and made a series of unbelievably bad portraits. When I realized things were not going my way I started my own interview. How long have you been writing? What inspires you? What do you love about writing? And then I struck gold. Where do you do most of your writing? The bathtub. Really? And as I have said countless times, you would be shocked at what people will let you do if you just ask them. The picture of the author in the bathtub got great play on the feature front and it told a little story that no one would have known if I didn't ask. Ask the questions and use the answers to make better photographs.
Migielicz makes some suggestions to help you take your portraits to the next level:
1. Use a medium format camera. For a little while at least - rent one if you have to - what you learn you will be able to apply forever. If you have never used one - it is a revelation and a different animal. The format is perfectly suited for the dimensions of a human face and for landscapes. Look what it did for Diane Arbus' photography.
2. Fill up the frame. At the very worst, it may break the ice for when you back off.
3. After the personality, a portrait is all about the light. Pay attention - get a command performance from your lighting.
I would just add that once you have made the decision that the situation calls for a portrait then facilitate yourself to make it successful. Make the shift from documentary photographer to portrait photojournalist with grace and enthusiasm.
"Practice, practice, practice is the way... Or give it all up and become an editor," said Clendenin.
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and the author alone. They do not represent the views of his employer, co-workers, friends or family.
(Jim Merithew is a picture editor at the San Francisco Chronicle. Jim invites you to direct your questions and comments about this column and other issues involving photojournalism ethics to him through his member page: http://www.sportsshooter.com/merithew.)
Related Links:
Merithew's member page
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