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Portrait Photography
I share a studio with a world-famous portrait
photographer: Elsa Dorfman. We have access
to the same location, background, lights, and
equipment. But I'm not a portrait photographer
and Elsa is. What's the difference? Elsa cares
about people. She is genuinely curious about
people she has never met and can connect with
them in just a few minutes. After a one-hour
session, she knows more about her average
subject's life than I do about my sister's.
Elsa uses a 20x24" Polaroid camera. Film costs
about $50/exposure, so she limits herself to two
exposures per subject. Yet her photo of me and
Alex (at right) is one of the only pictures of
myself that I like. I'm sometimes able to
capture the essence of a friend's expression, but
I give myself 36 tries with a 35mm camera or
at least 12 tries with a medium format camera.
Studying Elsa's artistic success has made me
believe that the most important thing about
portrait photography is an interest in your
subject. If you are so busy working that you
can't care about strangers then don't take their
photos! Or at rate, don't expect those photos to
be good. I'm reasonably happy with some of
the portraits I took on my trip to Alaska and
back because I had 3.5 months in which to be
alone and learn to appreciate the value of a
stranger's company and conversation.
Location
http://www.photo.net/portraits/intro (2 of 37)7/3/2005 2:16:41 AM