maandag 16 juli 2012

talking in photographs part 3     
portraits     
capturing aspects of personality     
i love shooting portraits of people i know and love.
i tend to hang around them with my camera as long as it takes, waiting until they become less aware of my presence, turn their focus back on themselves and what they are doing, and their authentic self starts radiating out of their faces and posture and gestures again.
right at that moment i press the shutter....


my neighbor Mijke, who lives in Mozambique and who i see once a year. every time she has grown and changed so much.... i love to record those changes and try to catch glimpses of her developing personality. here she's playing with one of our dogs, completely uninterested in me or my camera.






these two shots are of my dad, right after he gave me a portrait lens for my birthday. i couldn't wait to start taking his picture! he was totally aware of being photographed, but he's such a natural, he's unable to posture or take a pose.


my niece Nadine is always aware of cameras and can't help posing... so with her i usually have to wait long and take lots of shots before i catch her unawares.  but the fact that she knows people look at her and appreciate her beauty is also a part of her personality and it shows in these portraits. here i have tried to enhance that aspect in post-processing.
this shot has been given a bit of a low-key effect


here she was not exactly posing but still acutely aware of the camera, which shows in her facial expression. this shot only needed some subtle changes to keep the effect soft and natural


this shot has been given a high-key/soft focus effect to exaggerate the languid expression





5 opmerkingen:

  1. Wow, Helga such beautiful portraits, all of them.

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  2. your dad is very photogenic, you have captured him beautifully

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  3. Ah, I love the profile shot of Nadine. You have captured such a beautiful gesture in the turn of her head and lean of her body. Frame that one! Enjoyable portraits, I like how you describe what you had to do to capture them naturally. You are right, your dad is a natural to have his photograph taken - so relaxed!

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  4. These are really lovely. I admire what you do with portraits. I can never get beyond the stage where people are conscious of the camera.

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  5. Yes, these are lovely shots. When you speak of high-key and low-key, to what are you referring? (Sorry if this is basic stuff to some or many of you.) Your dad looks like a very happy person- well captured- but yes, there are some people you just can't take a bad picture of, no matter how hard you try (e.g. Nadine)!

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