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Posed portraits, especially when compared to
candid portraits of the same subject, seem to me to be more a measure
of the vanity of the subject than anything else. This is perhaps why
most posed portraits hold little interest for me and, when they do
appeal to me, it generally results in as much an interest in the skill
and sensitivity of the portraitist as in his or her subject.
All this is probably why I've delayed so long
in bringing my own attempts at portraiture to light, so to speak. And
it surely is the reason for my giving portraiture such a broad
interpretation in my own work. In fact, here the viewer will find very
few purposely composed photographs of subjects willingly submitting to
having their likeness captured on film (or digital media cards, these
days).
Serendipity and spontaneity have generally
seemed to me to be better composers, especially of portraits, than any
preconceived notion of a person that I might conjure. After all, is it
not these attributes of photography, especially spontaneity, which give
it a particular distinction in portraiture from other visual forms of
expression, like drawing or painting?
Generally then, most of my
"portraits" are either candid ones or ones in which the
subjects have had little opportunity to "compose" themselves
into something they might think they are, rather than how they appear
to others.
Compiling many of these photographs for this
exhibit somehow put me in mind of Norman Rockwell again, particularly
his genius in portraying man's better nature. Similarly, my own
preference has always been to expose the nobler, more attractive, or
wholesomely amusing aspects of my subjects. Once again, I find my ego
not unpleased with the association with that great American artist,
even though I once more have had to make the connection myself.
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