During a portrait session, if the subject jokingly asks if my camera will steal their soul, I’ll answer, “I hope so.”
It rubs me the wrong way, a camera. It’s a frightening thing. Cameras make ghosts out of people.
– Robert Zimmerman (aka Bob Dylan)
Sometimes a photographer will try to steal a bit of their subject’s soul. This is what separates a great portrait from an average one. Ideally a portrait should allow the viewer a moment’s chance into the subject’s world.
I just think it’s important to be direct and honest with people about why you’re photographing them and what you’re doing. After all, you are taking some of their soul and I think you have to be clear about that.
– US photographer Mary Ellen Mark
Newspaper photographers and corporate photographers often have to be great artists in a hurry. It’s tough to produce an insightful portrait of a someone in three minutes while they stand in a business office or hotel lobby. It may be easy to produce a creative picture but that’s something else.
If each photograph steals a bit of the soul, isn’t it possible that I give up pieces of mine every time I take a picture?
– US photographer Richard Avedon
Celebrity portraits, for better or worse, are hugely popular because they allow the viewer to be close to their favourite celebrity and perhaps share eye contact with them. It’s a virtual thrill but the emotional response is almost as good as being there in person.
With non-celebrity portraits, such as a business portrait, there are no virtual thrills to be had. But the picture still needs to create some sort of emotional connection with the viewer. Famed portrait photographer Yousuf Karsh once said, “it’s not the technique but the emotion,” that’s important in a picture.
With the careful use of lighting, pose and camera angle, a photographer can create a flattering portrait. But flattering may not always be enough.
There is a brief moment when all there is in a man’s mind and soul and spirit is reflected through his eyes, his hands, his attitude. This is the moment to record.
– Canadian photographer Yousuf Karsh
With many business portraits, such as those used for appointment notices and a web site’s About Us page, there’s no real need to produce a soul-revealing portrait.
But there was a time, especially with executive portraits used in annual reports and hung in office lobbies, when such portraits were tradition. That was when executives spent decades working at one company. Today it seems that even corporate executives are interchangeable and disposable.
Perhaps companies no longer have any souls worth stealing. Or maybe there’s too much risk involved.
I think that you can actually give people access to their own soul.
– US photographer Nan Goldin
