What has your experience been of being photographed? How mush is "who you are" reflected in the favourite portrait of yours?
The more I practice portrait photography, the more I realize that there is a distinction between "taking photos" of someone and "portraying" them.
To "portray" someone, is to chase those precious moments when the person in front of your camera trusts you enough to let go of the guards and nervous smiles, sharing with you something unique about who they are. Here is your opportunity to "photograph" them, creating an interpretation of glimpses of their character.
The whole process of consultation, session design and photoshoot, and all the technical competency of the photographer are prerequisites for creating and capturing such connection and those moments, leading to images that speak of something, make the viewers feel something, and have an authentic quality to them.
As the great master Paul Caponigro has said, “It’s one thing to make a picture of what a person looks like, it’s another thing to make a portrait of who they are.”
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