Portrait Photography

Nothing can show emotion and feeling through an image like a face. Portrait photography is a genre of photography where the picture is of a face but can include the rest of the body and the photographer can bring in other elements to the picture as well.  Portraits can be used to document people, remember faces and create art.

I think one of the most influential Portrait photographers is Steve McCurry. He is an American portrait photographer. He was born in Pennsylvania in 1950. McCurry grew up wanting to be a filmmaker but instead went on to study Theatre Arts and then got a job as a photographer for the Penn State Newspaper. After this, he became a freelance photographer and went out to India. He began his career when he crossed into Afghanistan immediately before the Soviet Invasion. His photographs from this time were shared around the world. He went on to work in other wars in places like Iran, the Philippians and Afghanistan. He takes a different approach to most war photographers. He focuses more on the after effects and more specifically the people war effects.

He said: “Most of my images are grounded in people. I look for the unguarded moment, the essential soul peeking out, experience etched on a person’s face. I try to convey what it is like to be that person, a person caught in a broader landscape, that you could call the human condition.”

He is most well-known for his photograph called Afghan Girl:

It was first published in National Geographic. It was taken in a refugee camp near Pakistan and is become a very famous picture. The matching colour of the girl’s bright green eyes and the wall behind her and her striking stare make this photo extremely memorable. 

I think portrait photography is interesting because so much can be said through an expression. In the case of ‘Afghan Girl’ it can move people and tell them about things going on in the world but we can also look back from portrait taken years ago to see how the human race has changed.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portrait_photography#Senior_Portraits

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_McCurry

http://www.boredpanda.com/top-10-photographers-for-travel-portraits/