Portrait of people What is a portrait Portrait photography is not just about people, but also about time (in documentary photography), architecture, landscape, and just any kind of photography. Portrait is always capturing the most essential characteristic of the subject in the way photographer see it, and photographer have to know many things about the same subject before he approach it. Portrait is not a neutral record of facts, but rather it attempts to say something about the subject through truthful representation and subjective (photographer’s) expression, it is visual description of the subject. Photography is seen as documentary or truthful record of what is placed in front of the camera, while paintings and drawings as fictional interpretation through selection, interpretation, and processing that same information. Portrait of people The most important think in portrait of people is captured personality and character. This is the most complex kind of portrait for and people are the most complex among just anything that can be portrayed. Within each portrait style one could be portrayed in a wide variety of contrasting modes upon when and where one is photographed. The idea of identity can be fixed only when connected with specific time and place (when and where). Time is perhaps the greatest factor among all and many variables that influences a portrait which is depend not just of a particular individual within one specific situation but also circumstances of a situation. There are basically three things on which viewer organizes his feeling, things photographer have to care for: identity, shooting style, and category. Identity There are individual (one person or family), and a group identity (as identity of a small group of people or a nation). Individual identity is a baby of a group identity, and if not, the baby has to flee or hide or will be picked up. Politicians, police, and large corporations care about the second one. When photographer capturing a real personality of a large group (like nation) usually get stuck in jail no matter which country is in play. Identity of a group can be expressed through cultural roles and signals associated with that group. To any of that two identities can be assigned personality. Personality is inner soul visible in outside expressive appearance of his face, and additionally visible physical surrounding things that go with a person. Examples are: one is always: sad, happy, energetic, lazy, vibrant, smiling, helpful, like bright and silky cloth, how one earn a living, what one carry around in pockets. Character is inner soul not visible through outer appearance. One have to know the person in order to discover his character, e.g. how he handle a problem, how passionate he is about all he does, his behavior toward family or friends, his likes and dislikes, he is dirty or clean person, well organized or not. People change personality and character (in further text named as personality only) to adapt to current condition, but in all of that changes there is one average personality people are judged by (this do not include artificial personality). Skill needed to get the best out of a reluctant person is more interpersonal and psychological than photographic. Photographer has to find in his subject a constant point of his personality and character, point that never change. Personality can be grouped as desired (or mask) personality that people would like to have. An example is masks one can fit over his face which are opportunity to experience a different personality while keeping real personality safely hidden, real personality, assigned personality is assigned by other people as what they thing about someone, and artificial personality is personality one just play to gain something, and an example is celebrity or well-known individual (his public personality is different than his real personality). Accordingly there are and different kind of portraiture. Every portrait should show personality desired, real, assigned or artificial. Which personality will be shown on the photograph depends on working style of photographer, and mostly of the subject, but before choice is made photographer have to search through all personalities of the person. Shooting Style There are three basic shooting styles in making portrait of people: lifestyle, candid, and formal. Lifestyle (or informal) portrait - depicting people as they would like that they are, usually at their homes, street, or parks, and people pose to photographer. When done as multiple pictures it should shows different characters so an average is possible to extract. When done as a single picture it can show any character of a person. In either case it is about desired personality. When is done with individuals or family, things that are most important in their life should be included. Do not do this with a group for no one will know to whom all of those things belong. Use medium format for color and Leica for B&W. Candid portraiture shows a person how photographer see them and what photographer thing they looks like without posing to photographer, but sometimes they are ask to pose. It is always done on location, and it is about capturing of assigned personality. Capturing artificial personality can also be placed in this group. Formal portrait is done in studio and should capture an average of a real (and just sometimes desired) personality. It is easiest to capture this personality in children because they still do not have many personalities, and the most difficult is (in general only) work with rich and business people. Photographer should concentrate on eyes and edges of mouth. It is desirable that such portraiture also shows and social status. Categories of portrait are: place, age, doubles, race, and body, and should not be confused for theme but rather as one of three foundation, together with personality and shooting style, how to organize feeling while looking at the portrait. Place (or location) interacts with the subject through the dialog in either direction, it is important component of portraiture, and is a main factor in contextualization of the subject. Place can cast mood over the subject, and also dominant personality of the subject can affect and alter circumstances of place. Age is a visible fact of identity, it is a moment of the aging process. When age makes reference it is transformed into dynamic of life or time, it expresses where and how we have lived (under stress, excessive exposure to sunlight). Time and events take their toll and engrave their story. Double whether as twins, clones, or kindred spirits, are one way of examining who and what we are. It starts in our childhood when one for the first time see its reflection, and extends as a persistent idea that somewhere in this world each of us has a double like an image in mirror. Sharing experience with other of the same experience is a way of self validating, and bonds between doubles could seem unbreakable. Literature has explored dark side of doubles, e.g. Dr Jekyll’s Mr. Hyde, while photography is concentrated on visual physical similarities as body adornment, hair style, clothing, and face and arms expression. Background should suggest doubling too, and many times when odds, we can see how double is outside of our world as we are outside of their world, like musicians, gays, bikers. Race as the relation between different people, white, indians, and black are most common. Individuals placed into the frame are symbolic and represent larger scale of relationship. An example of racial irony, a white man in America is wheelchaired with its technology while an Indian is at his foot with drooling mouth and like pleasing him. Another example is a black man in passing and looking at lifeless mannequins of white people who created the city, stores, and its windows now lifeless and stuffed into own window. Body whose gestures of face, hands, legs, or skin adornment we can interpret, carry information about a person. Dancers use their body for communication. One with black eyes and cut skin can be shown as remembering of the event, and with a hand on mouth as worriness and identity crisis. Such an image can be seen as a comment on contemporary society. The differences of visible minorities seen by society as odd, or abnormal persons as hermaphrodite are, can render them as exotic and therefore highly desirable subject for some artists.