Structure – You Can’t Build Without It

Portrait, Baker Snoqualamie NF, © Jay Goodrich

I have been thinking about my photography lately. My style, my vision, my technique. How I create. What I create. What I want to create next. Photography is truly a never ending learning experience. If you want to be successful and I mean really successful, not like me–I am still too young, you need to have staying power. And to achieve that staying power you need to really know photography inside and out. This post is the beginning of a new category on this blog entitled “Structure”. Why is it called Structure? Because I am going to write about those little building blocks that I have discovered along the way to help hold the house of photography up for me. Hopefully, in the long run, helping you to do the same.

Structure is posts, beams, walls, concrete, steel, wood. Today’s structure is the portrait. I am not talking about being the next Richard Avedon. I am talking about creating a portrait of anyone that has something more to it than a simple snapshot. This is something that every photographer regardless of descipline should be able to do. Someone in the park hands you their point and shoot and asks if you can take a picture of them? Can you? It is important. If you say I shoot birds not people, I am not looking to do that, you have failed. Why? Because you are not thinking outside of your box, and if you are not thinking outside of your box, you are not growing, and growth is important to creativity. I know some of you are thinking that I am completely off of my rocker right now but think about it. No matter what you photograph, does it not contain a strong subject? Does it not contain powerful light? Does it not contain a meticulously organinzed subject? Now if you took these three ingredients and applied them to any photograph, regardless of subject, would you not be able to create a strong image? I believe that you would.

The portrait is really hard. It is not a gimme. You have your subject given to you, now you have take that subject and give it to your viewer in a way that they say, “Hold on here, I need to figure this out.” It needs to highlight your subject’s soul. Make your viewer connect with the person in your portrait. “Win the crowd and you win your freedom.” or something like that.

Now back to that park scenario. Inevitably it is going to come at you in the middle of the day, high noon. Time for a gunslinger fight not a photo, right? The people asking you are not photographers, you however are. What can you do? Take those people into the shade for heaven’s sake. What no shade? How about some fill flash? Maybe a little wide angle to capture the surroundings. Wide angle lenses also expand your exposure latitude. Come on you are not saying that the point and shoot has no wide angle? Step back a little. Are there buildings near by with a shady side? And don’t just blast a mugshot. Give them something that they can react to and ask how did you do that? Talk to them for a few minutes. Get their details. Ask them questions. This is a gunfight that is won by being the last to shoot.

And then if they like the image, give them your card. You just promoted the fact that you are a photographer and you are decent, if nothing else. Who knows, maybe one of them will come to you for some instruction some day.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 27th, 2010 at 8:00 am. It is filed under photography tips, structure and tagged with photography building blocks, structure, the portrait. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.