Hurry Up And Take The Picture!

Say Cheeseburgers!, graphite, 8 x 6, TMDD Series

In my external hard drive, I only have heads like this with expressions like this.  As brilliant as this woman's smile is, she is smiling (obediently) for the camera and would like the camera to be quick for she was in the middle of conversation; her features, though pleasant enough, smack of 'hurry up, take the picture, I'm busy.' Photographs taken at events are event records, not the stuff for reference.  Getting a natural head shot with so much social interaction going on all around is almost impossible.  I managed it with Ellis, but not with this one.

Candid shots taken when people are unaware give you the best references for drawing and painting. Candids are not phony.  They show us as we are in a particular moment.  Put a number of these shots together, and who the person is will stand out of the bunch.  Problem is: how long must you follow a gal around to get a glimpse of the real her? Longer than most of us would care to give.

The Blog Writer, candid photograph  of me, by me with
a handheld digital, sans enhancement.   I obviously take
blog writing seriously.

Vianna Szabo takes about fifty shots of subjects in an hour session  before she feels she has enough pictorial information to paint the portrait.  This procedure sounds right--depending on how she takes the fifty photographs--following her subjects around as they go about their business, or over an hour standing them here, sitting them there?

 I would want to follow the subject through their day--like filming a reality show.  And, I should imagine, the initial photos would have to be discarded. In the beginning of such a docu-photo session, the subject is bound to be self conscious.  The candid photographer wants the subject to be oblivious of the lens, consequently no tri-pods, no spot light and key light,  nothing but the camera and a good knowledge of getting the most out of its settings when on safari where speed counts. In the darkroom, now called Photo Shop, that's where magic can happen, but I've found that people usually go over the top when it comes to 'special effects.' Bottom line: I think the skill of a good photograph lies in the camera and the photographer's camera skills. Excellent photographic skills walk hand in hand with drawing/painting skills.