Logan
In today’s post, I want to discuss a little bit about my philosophy of portrait photography. While in a fine art piece, I want everything perfect, both in the visual and in the technical aspects. In portraiture, I can give up a little perfection in order to capture a meaningful, emotional portrait, especially when it comes to children. It is all about the feeling, the memory, the inner workings of a child. This image, Logan, is a portrait of my own son, created a couple years ago, so I can discuss it both as a photographer and as a parent.
There are a few technical problems with this image that I know judges would get me for in competition, but frankly, when working with a client I really don’t care what the judges will say. I am concerned about the client. What do they want? What do they see? How can I make an image that will mean something to them? For instance, in this image, the expression is wonderful. This particular son loves to put on his “camera smile” anytime I get him in front of the camera. It is very artificial. I have many photographs of it. This time I was able to put him at ease, let him sit up on the stool and get comfortable. Before he knew it, I had the image. No time to put on the “camera face.” Just a genuine, pleasant, happy expression. I can see in his eyes the pleasant, happy child that he is. In working this way to get the perfect expression, I had neglected something else…his feet. Or had I? Yes, many a competition judge may say, “I don”t like the foot position, it is drawing too much attention.” However, what I see, is a child whose feet have outgrown the body, and now the body needs to catch up. It happens with every child. Also, the first thing to come off when my children enter the house is their shoes. They love to be barefoot. This portrait reminds me of that. Could I have covered the foot with a dark sock or shoe and pleased an audience that knows nothing about this child? Yes. But why, when it would remove some of the meaning for whom it belongs?
No matter what any critic may say, this is still one of my favorite images that I have of Logan in my collection of our family portraits. It shows me who he really is, what he is all about. The peace and joy that he brings to our home. I never tire of looking at images like this. They have meaning to me. I only hope that the portraits I create for my clients bring as much joy to them as this one does to me.
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