When people ask me what kind of photography I want to do or what is my favorite, I always say portraits. The reason I say portraits is you get to get creative with them. Whether it is fashion photography, business portraits or portraits that show who they are. The main reason is the people.
People are unique and interesting. Taking portraits almost guarantees a different photo every time because everyone is different. Every human is unique in their own way and they all have a story. Portrait photography has the ability to tell that person's story within a couple of pictures. It is almost like the camera lens sees the person better than you do.
Photos are used to capture moments and with portraits, it can capture people. It also allows you to get to know the person. The best way to take portraits is to build the customer rapport because the picture will be better if they trust you. If people let you in they relax more in their portraits and you see more of them. Their smile is more genuine and they aren't stiff. Taking portraits also allows you to meet different people that you probably wouldn't meet if you weren't a photographer.
I love portrait photography because I love to show the uniqueness of people. Every person can be photogenic when they are comfortable. Every human is beautiful and can take beautiful photos; even when they think they aren't photogenic, they are. Their photo is going to show who they are which means it will be a beautiful photo.
When it comes to my photography I hope to increase my talent in portraits and work with different lights and other equipment but most importantly I want to meet more people and take pictures of more people. I want to push my boundaries and find different ways to take pictures and tell peoples stories through their faces.
With portraits, you can also chose to make whatever kind of pictures you want using people. You can create fantasy portraits and dark portraits. Christian Sampson created portraits that represent mental illnesses that was amazing and took portraits to a whole new level. With that kind of photography, you really need to get to know the people and I would like to do deep photography like that.
Portraits allow you to use your creativity and it allows a piece of you to show along with the person you are taking a picture of. To me, it is one of the most unique types of photography because every picture can look different, just like every person is different. Photography means a lot to me because it is a part of me but it is also a way to show pieces of other people. Everyone deserves to be noticed and portraits do that, it notices a deeper part of you than you are used to being noticed.
A portrait is a record of you at a certain time in your life which makes the photograph really special.
