Ginger
tommy forbes
There’s a lot of artistic blather about what makes a good portrait. One artist says a good portrait “needs to say more about the maker of the image than the subject.” Another says “all portraits are accurate and none of them are the truth.” A third says a good portrait “must somehow also have a secret that you want to take part in.”
It’s very pretty blather, but it’s blather all the same. You want to know what makes a good portrait? I’ll tell you. It’s very simple. A good portrait gives the viewer the sense that the subject has a life that exists outside the dimensions of the frame.
This is a good portrait. I don’t know if it says more about the maker than the subject. I don’t know if it’s accurate, I don’t know if it’s true. And it doesn’t suggest a secret I want to take part it. But it does make me feel like this ginger-haired fellow has an existence beyond the edges of the photograph. After the shutter clicks, this guy will go about his business, whatever it is, as if nothing much happened.
But something did happen. A good portrait happened.
Blog photograph copyrighted to the photographer and used with permission by utata.org. All photographs used on utata.org are stored on flickr.com and are obtained via the flickr API. Text is copyrighted to the author, greg fallis and is used with permission by utata.org. Please see Show and Share Your Work
