My wife got her photo taken today and it wasn’t by me. It looks like her*, but it isn’t really a photo ‘of’ her. It’s a passport photo and it does the job of capturing a facsimile of her appearance. However it isn’t a good portrait photo of her.
Great portrait photography captures more than the person’s appearance. It tells a story. A portrait of a family can show love and fun. A businessman’s portrait can demonstrate intellectual prowess and a politician can look powerful. A single portrait of a wrinkled old man can tell the story of a life lived hard. The grand masters of painting knew this and so their portraits tell us far more than what historical figures looked like.
When I photograph a wedding I am looking to put together an album that tells the story of the couple’s day. When I photograph portraits I want to tell a story in a single image about who they are. Children are especially fun to photograph. I love to capture their innocence, their curiosity and often I capture prize tantrums being thrown. Parents sometimes worry about photos being taken of their tearful child but I assure them that once removed from the stress of the moment, the parents will love the image in future. Just as our children gown and change daily, so too their emotions and how they deal with them also change. Sad and cranky children are just as cool to photograph as happy ones.
I’ve just redone all my portrait package details. You’ll be happy to know most things are now cheaper than before and I’ve added some items. Plus I’ve included digital files free with ordered prints and albums. Click here to go to my portraits page and see all the details for portrait photography in the Lismore, Ballina, Byron Bay areas.
Here are a couple of baby portraits I took recently of a lovely little girl starting to explore her way in the world.
By the way, I love square images for portraits and like to put albums together consisting of purely square images. I guess it’s a throwback to my old days shooting film on Hasselblad and Holga.
*sort of looks like her. There is a weird colour cast making her hair slightly green. You won’t get that in a professional image. Sorry Postman Pete, but it’s true.