Return to Portraiture
I’ve been thinking for a while, that I’ve not had any chance these past few years to make any portraits.
It was startling for me to read reviews of my book, where the reviewer was surprised to see the inclusion of portraits as well as landscapes because they viewed me as a landscape photographer. This in itself was very interesting to me, because it allowed me to get a glimpse of how others perceive me and what I do.
I always thought I was a travel photographer, because it entails all the destinations that I’ve been to, all the landscapes that I’ve shot whilst there, and also, all the people I’ve encountered and photographed too.
For me, there is little difference between portraiture and landscapes. They both have personalities and they both need to be engaged in, a dialogue of sorts – the interaction between yourself and your subject.
They are also subjects of beauty, and I see many compositional attributes that are appropriate in landscapes, present in portraiture too: I’m often seeking pleasing tones, compatible colours and ‘a moment’. With landscapes, we have to watch for elements changing in the landscape and make images when we see detail changing or becoming visible. With portraits, I have to watch my subjects as they dance between different expressions of the face, their body movement, their change in pose.
And they’re both very exciting to shoot. Landscapes because you’re dealing with the unpredictable elements of a landscapes soul. Portraits are exciting because of the unpredictable elements of a persons spirit.
I deliberately interchanged the words ‘soul’ and ‘spirit’ between landscapes and people, because in a sense, they are the same thing when we choose to make images of them with a camera.
I also get a lot of inspiration from making images of people. It’s all too easy to become single-minded in your approach to photogaphy. We should often seek out new things that interest us, as often, they are a guiding post to where we should go, to who we are seeking to grow into as a creative person (I hate using the word artist, yet, in truth, that is exactly what we are).
So in order for me to ‘feed my soul’, I’m heading off to Portugal in November to catch up with some friends in Oporto. We’re heading back into the highlands, and I’m hoping that it will be a week of making images of the locals there. My first and only visit was in 2007:
There is a story to tell in the little villages of northern Portugal. I felt I touched upon something in these images at the time, but I’ve never been back to explore it. I think that’s part of the job or ‘journey’ of a creative person. To know when something has been left unfinished, to know where there is potential to grow, and to take action and put some new work into being.
I’m now hatching plans for further trips to make portraiture. I’m not exactly sure where just yet, but what I do know, is that I’ve been neglecting my portraiture leanings for some time, and that as a creative person, my inner ‘artist’ needs to be fed.
Bruce, very nice thoughts and very true. I think people and landscapes go together, as they coexist and represent each other.
certain landscapes give an impression of a certain people and vice versa,
Needless to say, your portraiture is superb, beautiful in how you’ve managed to capture the people, their environs along with their personality, giving the viewer a reflective echo of their lives.
I notice that you tend to use Print film for your portraits, I could never get along with it – great for printing (wet printing) but dire when it comes to scanning. Which scanning process do you use? And which scanner?
I absolutely LOVE Kodak Ektachrome e100vs for ytravel portraiture, it gives me everything – it’s warm, saturated yet manages to handle skin tones quite well – especially darker tones., and easy to scan!
Have you ever tried it when travelling?
I used it in the Swat Valley in 2007, Karakoram and Hindu Kush in 2009 and 2011. I’ve included some links here to some portraits of mine on another site, do let me know what you think, if you have time, I’d really like your expert opinion.
(shot on a Contax G2 with 45mm Planar T*) (also used some Velvia and Sensia)
http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/zeiss3.jpg
http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/zeiss2.jpg
http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/zeiss5.jpg
http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/babyeyes.jpg
http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/fakirs949.jpg
http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/molhan.jpg
http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/2boycloak.jpg
http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Swat1.jpg
Also, do you ever shoot B&W? I’d love to see some of your landscapes (and portraits) on 100 speed B&W film and printed traditionally.
And finally, if you do ever have the desire to, i’d really love to see how you’d fare shooting landscapes and portraits in afore mentioned places – the Hindu Kush and Karakoram. Gilgit/Hunza/Nagar in the Karakoram and Chitral in the Hindu Kush are very tourist friendly, yet tourists are few and far between, the FCO states these regions are on their ‘safe list’, so no worries as regards security, and best of all, they have some of the most majestic landscapes on Earth – the Tirich Valley, the Batura glacier, Baltoro, Hunza, nagar valleys etc to name a few, along with some of the most hospitable and welcoming people I’ve ever met.
I can only imagine how your landscapes would look in such places.
Comment by Ibraar Hussain — 29 May, 2012 @ 3:38 pm
Hi Ibraar,
I use print film for a few reasons. Kodak Portra is the most beautiful film I’ve tried for shooting portraits, and I tried a few different brands. Once you find something you fall in love with, there’s absolutely no reason to keep on searching for anything else. So I’ve no desire to check out other films. I’d much rather focus on making new images with a medium I’m still getting to know and grow to love.
I have a Nikon Coolscan 9000 medium format scanner. All my scans have been done on either Nikonscan negative mode – which worked with no messing about, and my Ethiopia ones were done with Silverfast with no problems either. Some people claim it’s hard to scan negatives, but it’s never been an issue. Silverfast did keep making some of the scans blue for a while – which was a bug, and they couldn’t trace it, but othewise, I’ve had very good fortune with negative scanning.
I also prefer to use film because of the high latitude. I enjoyed very much looking at your images of the Karakoram areas – the Baltoro Glacier has been on my list of places for a long time…. but there’s always too many places to go. I couldn’t help notice some strong backlight in your work which I would imagine to be hard to control with slide film. Negative film – such as Portra allows for more stops of contrast to be recorded without too much blow out, but ultimately, it’s about photographing people in the shade and in even, diffused light.
I never shoot B&W. It’s not of any interest to me, unless the subject is pretty boring in colour – such as Easter Island. It demands to be conveyed in black and white, but at the moment, I feel I’m still learning and working with colour. I’m no jack of all trades, but like to work with a few mediums I’m comfortable with – colour slide and colour negative. I’ve found a process that works for me, and I feel that B&W will be something for the future perhaps, even though I’m aware that I will be working on a B&W portfolio of Easter Island once I get home. It’s just makes sense to shoot it in colour as it’s easier to scan and then convert for the particular look i’m after.
Thanks for the info on the regions you visited Ibraar. I certainly wish to visit at some point, but often my workshop schedule means I don’t have the free time for the right season there. It’s something I need to work on.
Comment by Bruce Percy — 29 May, 2012 @ 4:21 pm
thanks ever so much for the response bruce. And I hope you do get to visit those areas one day. Thanks also for the feedback, so would portra film help control the harsh light? I like your portraits even more so as you have em spot on perfect whereas I’ve only had disasters with scanning C41 film. I will give portra a go now, (also as e100vs has been discontinued) thanks for the encouragement. a question does say Portra or the fuji alternatives 400H have their own native colour balance and look when scanned? Or do the colours need working on? Truth be told that’s the problem I had. Finally, when shooting portraits while travelling, do you allow the cameras meter to judge or do you use a handheld meter? Any advice would be much appreciated. I look forwrad to more of your portraiture!
Comment by Ibraar Hussain — 29 May, 2012 @ 7:18 pm
Hi Ibraar,
Sorry for the delay.
Nothing controls harsh light. You need to avoid it at all costs. All my images were created in shaded areas, where the light is diffused and bounces around. Buy my portraiture e-Book – it tells you about this stuff in there :-)
My colours don’t need any working on. If you have to ‘work on’ it, it sounds like something is wrong and you’re trying to make something be something else.
That’s why I use portra and also film in general – I like the look of it, and it works for me, so I haven’t changed.
I use the built in meter of the camera. I have no time for shooting with a light meter when encountering people.
Buy the portraiture ebook.
Comment by Bruce Percy — 4 June, 2012 @ 10:29 pm