When I first started taking pictures as a kid, I loved shooting landscapes (I still do, but that’s another story). They were easy to shoot, they were naturally natural and required no direction, and– here’s my favorite part– they didn’t move (at least, over the course of the 5 minutes I fumbled around with controls). People were much, much harder to shoot. For one thing, they had minds of their own– who would’ve thought?– and for another, people were unpredictable and complex, each individual unabashedly unique.

So I never shot people. They were too difficult to capture.

And when I finally did start taking portraits, I took mostly self-portraits. At least my own self was a subject more easily directed. I could be myself around, well, myself. And I had a motivation, fueled by those awkward adolescent years: I wanted to show the world how I saw myself, how I felt I looked like. Not what everyone else saw: the tired girl at school, the bad hair day, or the candid photo usually with my mouth full (and open), hand raised in a feeble attempt to block the camera.

When I finally started taking portraits for other people, I realized I wanted to do this not just in my own self-portraits but for every single photo I took of someone else.

Portraits are to reflect you– not how your best friend or employer or neighbor sees you, but how you feel, how you perceive yourself.

And I’m here to do just that.

I photographed Alec in public several months ago. Back then I didn’t know his name, neither he mine. I was just a far-away admirer of a lone guitarist who happened to be playing lovely music.

Then, I happened to post this photo somewhere, and one of his friends happened to send it to him, and when I came across it recently (he was using it as his profile photo on Facebook) I messaged him, eager to introduce myself to my accidental subject.

He replied:

I don’t mean to sound campy or anything, nor overtly tmi confessional with a near stranger but,

from your site:

“And I don’t want to just snap
a few cursory shots of you and be done with it.
I’m here to capture who you really are.”

I have friends from all over the world now. I’ve got facebook friends more than I know to do with, best friends, good friends etc etc.

But when I play guitar I feel like the most lonesome person on earth. That’s why this photo is so fantastic.

you have a really fantastic talent.

To express exactly how you as an individual feel and see yourself…

I don’t know if I’m there yet– I’ll always be striving– but at least, maybe, I’m a little closer.

tags: monochrome, music, portrait

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 1st, 2010 at 7:08 pm and is filed under images. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.