Emotion in Portraiture

Most the time portraiture is about what we want the world to see in us, putting our best face forward for the care of posterity.  We know that these images of beauty, happiness and strength aren’t who we always are but the other side of that equation is rarely captured nor left behind for others to contemplate.  If it ever is, it may be the sudden snap of a street photographer capturing us in a fleeting moment that takes on a life of its own and never comes back to us. 

The idea of “the other in us” is never far beneath the surface when I shoot with people.  When I have the inspiration, I like to do story boards of stills, sessions with a mood or images of a moment that allow the person I am working with to role play within a staged situation that hopefully captures those other realities that many know from the lower points of our experience.  These are my best of my infrequent forays into portraiture.

I did a shoot for a workshop assignment a few weeks ago.  I wanted to shoot on a dark moody day and asked Sam to dress for the moment.  Not as a fashion statement, but rather as an expression of mind.  As we made pictures, the formula worked.  The images we made hopefully capture the turmoil of inner anxiety and struggle that many deal with just to get through a day.  They are not meant to be pleasant in the moment, but expressions of commonality for people to know that they aren’t alone in these vulnerable moments.