#Tog Tuesday: Part I-The Art of The Portrait
Portraits were some of the first images to grab my attention and draw me into my lifelong love affair with photography. The portrait work of Richard Avedon, with their stark black and white imagery, many shot on simple white seamless backgrounds, reduced all the elements down to their simplest forms and taught me valuable and lasting lessons about the power of the portrait.
What I learned, from Avedon and others (see resources), is that portraits at their best should strive to reveal something intimate about the subject, they should pull back the curtain for the viewer and let them into the lives, minds and hearts of their subjects. The portrait artists goal is to create a dialog between the photographer, the subject and the viewer. A dialog that in the end hopefully helps tell a story, convey an emotion, establish a viewpoint, and gives the viewer more information than they had before viewing the portrait.
I believe this is true in varying degrees for all forms of portraiture, from fine art, to editorial, family, seniors, maternity, newborn, and business. They all strive to deliver a message, to tell the viewer something about the subject. Today I’ll discuss business/executive portraits, environmental portraits and head shot portraits. These are all basically the same type of image in that they share the common goal of conveying personality, of introducing the subject to the viewer. Is the subject a conservative but approachable professional, a friendly a realtor, or a group of edgy rockers? The decisions you make about lighting, posing, location and expression all end up forming the viewpoint of your portrait and set the tone for the viewer.
Let’s look at five different portraits and examine the thought process behind the images, the posing, the way they were lit and what camera settings were used. We will touch on some of them in Part I, and the others in Part II. Read more…
Westcott has had the opportunity throughout the past years to partner with photographers from all over the country who put on some TOP NOTCH tours focusing on Photography Education. So, it is officially that time again and we are excited to highlight some tours taking place as well as some amazing events across the country! Check these out: 
Normally when we post a #Tog Tuesday, we like to provide information, education, and inspiration to our readers. However, sometimes, it’s always nice to see what others have to say out there and jump the gun to post on a MONDAY instead. So with this #Tog Tuesday (yet really a Monday), we would like to open this up to YOU. What inspires you? What makes you ‘tick’ as a photographer? We want you to highlight who you are as a photographer, provide links to your work, and share with others!
