The perfect portrait

My passion as a photographer stems from the obsession to create the most beautiful photograph possible of my client. And each client brings the challenge of outdoing myself from the previous session. Before we go much further it is important to understand that the art of photography is represented by two separate but equally important factors, the technical side and the creative side. (Anyone catch the Law and Order reference?) The technical side, depth of field, shutter speed, ISO, and lens selection is a very left brain activity. The creative side, lighting, background, posing, etc is a very right brain activity. Most people tend to be stronger on one side over the other and photography challenges you to use both sides. I am very technical person, so operating a camera is very second nature to me. Therefore, using my right brain for creativity is something I constantly study and practice. It is not about just looking through the view finder and snapping a shot, its about all things I just mentioned and pulling them all together at the same time. I am constantly battling one aspect or the other to get the perfect shot.

But I digress…This past October I decided I wanted to reward my past clientele with a very affordable, but quick Holiday session in the studio. Nothing fancy, just an opportunity to bring the family in and have a family portrait done for Christmas. One particular client, I will call her Ruth, was one of the first to book an appointment. Ruth is a 30 something young lady who self admittedly has overcome some challenging obstacles in her life. I have a feeling she probably really couldn't afford a regular photo session so I am glad she took me up no this offer. When she arrived for her session she introduced me to her father, who reluctantly had come along to get his photo taken with her. So we popped in to the studio, I did a few shots of them together and a few of each of them separately.

I put Ruth's photos up on line for her to view and she promptly made her selections and placed her order, one portrait of her and her father together, and one each of them alone. About a week later Ruth came by (alone) to pick up her portraits. We got to chatting about the portraits she had selected. I told her that I always pick out my favorites from each session and I am always interested in which portraits the client chooses and why. With a guarded tone and a lump in her throat, she shared with me that she had not had the opportunity to spend much time with her father when she was growing up and could never recall seeing him smile. That is why she had chosen this particular portrait of her father.

Now, I look at this picture and I see technical and creative opportunities. Why did I do this? Why didn't I do that? I beat myself up constantly for not shooting it perfectly. But Ruth didn't care about that. I captured a moment in time that she never got to see as a child. I guess, at least for today, I have finally taken the perfect portrait. Thank you Ruth for helping me see that.