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Should
portraitists attempt to educate the public? Should we give them the photographs
they want or the photographs
we want them to have?
I have noticed that many people nowadays prefer enlargements of heads
snapped by amateurs in a seaside or garden group. The general belief
is that portraits taken under these conditions are thoroughly natural.
They are but that is all.
The portraitist today must educate the public in the advantages of
the character portrait.
After
a certain amount of work among theatrical people I realize that every
portrait can tell a story. I know many photographers revolt against
the story picture and insist that photography is a pure art; but
I don't agree with that view.
Readers
may remember a short story by O. Henry which tells of an artist who failed because
he was too great an artist; his pictures laid bare
the souls of his sitters. I do not suppose the camera can go quite
so far as that, but I do believe it can get beneath the surface.
A picture of this kind will take a lot of hard work to obtain, but
that does not mean that it is unobtainable.
Some
readers may be surprised to learn that I use a Leica in my studio.
Many of my clients have expressed surprise on seeing so small a camera
when they are used to large studio apparatus. I have discovered,
however, that the Leica is very disarming. Once a client is convinced
that the question of size does not enter into the quality of the portrait, it
is only
up to the photographer to capture the character and the story which
each sitter possesses.
It
is impossible to put into writing just how this can be done. Perhaps
it is a sixth sense; perhaps one can grow or train oneself to it;
it depends on the mentality of the photographer. When I pass a man
in the street I look for his story. After a certain amount of practice
the imagination becomes more supple and a real help to the portraitist.
It enables him to get beneath the surface and to do with a camera
what O. Henry's artist did with a pen. The fictitious artist failed
to convince, or rather to please, the public. This may also be the
lot of the photographer. I believe it is worth trying. |
