taking a new perspective

the basis of my portrait business is my client, or my muse if you will. before i take any pictures it is always my desire to get to know my muse. this aids my ability to give my muse a portrait experience that he/she can feel comfortable with and that will produce photos that are meaningful, not just pretty! during today's photography workshop at judith brannen's i was given affirmation that my relational approach to photography is the right approach for me, and is founded upon respect.

drawing upon the widsom of freeman patterson, we were encouraged to examine our subject before placing a camera between ourselves and it/them. to spend a few moments getting to know it. this shows respect for it. to be honest, i never thought of this before. of course i am going to show respect for my human subjects, be courteous and kind. treat him or her with dignity. but somehow the idea of approaching a non-human subject with this same kind of respect has began a transformation in my entire approach to photographing human and non-human subjects.

this line of thinking is reminiscent of the jesh de rox workshop i sat in on during wppi 2011, wherein he drove home the notion that each person is extraordinary. to do this he had us make eye contact with a person sitting next to us and to hold that contact for more than a few seconds. this is so much easier than it sounds... (next time you are in line at the grocery store i encourage you to make eye contact with a stranger and then tell me how your experience was!!). the point was to give you time to really see the person and how wonderfully marvelous he or she is.

as i wondered about the property taking pictures of nature and still life (we were encouraged to photograph subjects that are not our norm, thus i strived to avoid photographing people) it occurred to me how often this portrait photographer takes for granted the being of a tree, or a field or a flower that often provides color, texture and interest within the frame of my portrait as i photographically tell the story of my human subject. thus, i chose an interesting looking plant or reed and sought to tell its story. i photographed it's appendages, its roots, its head, its surroundings, and i made it the subject of my portrait even when a human entered my frame! i personified my natural subject in effort to offer it the respect i have traditionally reserved for my human subjects.

this was a really wonderful exercise in seeing and respecting my subject. it proves the multiple perspectives one can take of a single subject, and it caused me to consider the beautiful presence of non-human subjects within my portraits. here is the story of a reed.