Idiosyncrasies
My 2024 in portrait photography
The Canadian pianist Glenn Gould would often sing as he played; he’d refuse as to why he did so, likening it to asking a centipede in what order it moves its hundred legs. As the cartoon coyote walks on the air, or, as Douglas Adams advises, the key to flight is to throw oneself at the ground and miss, there’s a flow state achieved when we’re most in the midst of being ourselves.
In any relationship there are third things—as the poet Donald Hall said, “sites of joint contentment”. In the midst of a shared experience, a shared flow state, a person is more likely to reveal themselves.
This is how I’ve been thinking about portrait sessions—a site of joint contentment, ideally at some point achieving a flow state where, through collaboration, the subject reveals their idiosyncrasies that are to be honoured and celebrated, giving a clear indication of who they are and what they do.
In the past year especially, I feel I’ve worn in the hat of portrait photographer, adding to my work as a visual documentarian. (I think “documentarian” is a fair way to encapsulate covering performing arts, events, weddings—these are all performances, rehearsed to varying degree, and my role is to observe and find the story.)
The difference with portraits, of course, is that it’s a conversation. A collaboration. I’m in the diegesis of world that I’m covering; my glances, demeanour, words, eye contact, all impact the final result. How I almost always start a session after the niceties and introductions is to ask, “when someone sees your picture, how do you want them to feel, in a word?” Setting that intent is like choosing the shape of a glass to fill with the unique imbuing of the subject’s personality. You should recognize yourself in your portrait, and those who know you best should recognize you, too.
Everyone has the ineffable sense of self that lurks behind idiosyncrasies—the look in your eye, the grasp of your hand. The way you do that. It’s the things you might not notice yourself doing; the things you can’t help but do. These things make you your own person, and I think a good portrait honours this. The process—prompts, posing, conversation, interaction—ought to coax this as we arrive at a place where you’re comfortable, as the camera fades its presence and the subject comes into view. I love learning about the people who come into the studio, or who I visit on location. I’m genuinely curious and interested and I always learn something as a result. I believe you need to make some kind of connection with the subject and really feel the moment, whether that’s when documenting or when collaborating.
I often think and talk about portrait photography as a “game of inches”—why does this angle work, but not that one, a couple degrees of tilt away? Move your hand a little that way. Hold on, I just need to adjust this light—an inch this way, feathering it away from the subject just a touch. That moment works, but a millisecond later would not have. We find an idea for an image and work at it, iterating and circling in on it until everything simply lines up. The variables—frame, space, light, texture, focus, layers, perspective, balance, colour (oh, colour)—coalesce, create, and inform some alignment when the subject is—ideally—most themselves, in the midst of our conversation and interaction.
One of the better known stories around portraits is about Yusuf Karsh’s 1941 portrait of Churchill. He took Churchill’s cigar without warning, which resulted in the disposition we’ve all come to know. Hardly anyone has seen this one, though.
While I probably won’t be yanking any cigars in my future, there’s no doubt an investment in pursuing the subconscious candid within a self-aware situation makes all the difference.
Here are a few of my favourites from 2024—it’s impossible to post all of them, so it’s just a selection—but I feel like they get at what I’ve been trying to do. I’m grateful to everyone I’ve met for their trust and what I’ve learned in our conversations, and I’m looking forward to seeing what 2025 brings.
I love your approach and mindset around your work!
Great poses and lighting! I found myself cropping all of them like I do for my own photos with people in them, although I can’t explain why.