Is Portrait Photography Showing or Stealing People Souls - Coursework Example

Do portraits steal people's soul? "Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it." - Confucius Introduction People are puzzled by an opportunity to sell their souls to devil, but are they afraid of selling their souls to portrait makers? Some people look in the similar way both on photos and in their real lives, but some of them look completely different. Maybe, this trend can be explained in a way that the one who reflects his soul on a photo leaves it on it forever… Very often people from different tribes are shot all the time and it looks like their souls are stolen. Actually, it witnesses the fact that people even from some tribes deserve a humanistic approach (Daley, 2001). A quality of a photo very often depends on an ability of a photographer to make correct and ethical shots: “A much better approach is to take photos in a relational way. This doesn’t mean you need to have talked to them for hours, swapped numbers and told you deepest secrets before photographing them – but it does mean that taking their photograph can actually become a friendly interaction between people from different cultures” (People are not Sites). What is a link between a photo and a human soul? Moreover, photographers are hoping for their camera's ability to sell the soul of an individual. There is a following expression, which generalizes attitude of people for shots and cameras: "It rubs me the wrong way, a camera. It’s a frightening thing. Cameras make ghosts out of people" (Robert Zimmerman (aka. Bob Dylan). To my mind, Bob Dylan developed an apt definition for camera, because it is describes a person's attitude to camera. It is described in a negative context and we can claim that if a bit of the subject’s soul is stolen, the portrait is great. Every photographer should ask the question: if I make a photo, why am I doing that, actually? A part of a person's soul is stolen and it is appropriate for an individual to set clear goal and considerations about that. We can claim that from a general perspective, "Overall, as a genre, portrait photography represents a consequential silentyet dynamic visual category of cultural representation: it has the ability to manifest conventions of behavior and appearance appropriate to themembers of a society in any given era. Age, gender, race physical beauty, occupation, and class often can be inferred   from the external signifiers housed within a rendered composition" (King 2008, p. 78). When a piece of a person's soul is stolen then a portrait is great. Nevertheless, a quality of a portrait depends on external factors too. For example, if a person stands in the office hall and a photographer wants to make his photo, he will hardly capture soul of this person. A creative picture is produced, but there is no even a part of a soul of a person… Thus, in the newspapers we often come across photos made by "great artists but in a hurry". Celebrity portraits are famous for a truthful reflection of their individualities. A great emphasis is made on a popularity of celebrities' photos, because the viewers very often want to be closer to their favorite celebrity and want to develop a contact with celebrities (Ben-Shaul, 2007). Therefore, every nation has different approaches to making portraits of photography. For example in the work about photographs of the Democratic American nation, "Collectively these variations add to the mood of each photograph.The sisters' demeanor  steadily changes from portrait to portrait at times the women seem confident, every so often solemn, coy, and on occasion even stressed. Despite the straightforwardness of this documentary photographic portrait series, a type of enigmatic message infiltrates this picture story"(King 2008, p. 42).  Yousuf Karsh discusses non-celebrity portraits, and underlines that in a business portrait, there are no virtual thrills and there is no special emotional connection with the viewer. We can claim that not a technique means much, but emotion in the portraits. A flattering portrait is created when the lighting, pose and camera angle are integrated and a photographer can create some appealing images. Art of photographers making photos is losing its popularity, because currently it is not popular anymore to hang portraits in office lobbies (Kirkpatrick, 2011). Employees in the company are interchangeable and there is no need to hang the portraits of one employee, because very soon he can be substituted by another one. If to talk about similarities between a camera and a gun, we can find them. Firearms are focused on stopping time, or just to end the life of whatever we shoot at. We use guns to threaten and to protect and a camera does not have such a goal. With a camera we can stop time too and steal a soul of an object, but when we make photographs, we can choose to use our cameras as tools for character assassination. For example, paparazzi can threaten their victims of photos and we can post someone's photos on Facebook. The victims of photographs very often close their faces with their hands and are shielding from view. Thus, we can speak about a power of this tool. Very often people are afraid of portrait photography, because it can steal a person's soul. One portrait can represent a tiny person in a completely different view: he may look large, but in the real life he can look oversized and dense. Thus, before making a photography portrait, a photographer should ask whether he needs this photo and for what purposed does he make it, actually. This feeling of a photographer can be described in the following way: he is looking for a special corner and that photography portrait is a special corner, actually. For example, before making a portrait, it is better to realize the essence and an internal power of a person. A way of one's behavior, a manner of conversation and many other features should be taken into account. The most popular portraits are those, which portray something odd and exotic. This tendency is often described in the following way: "This is the information-gathering aspect of photography and this is a special aspect of portrait photography. But the modern manner of taking photographs — not of the exotic, but of the merely odd — is a different matter altogether. It is similar to the difference which exists between the nineteenth-century notion of “taking the tour” and the modern notion of tourism" (King 2008, p. 8). In accordance with the modern studies in photography, this is compared with some other phenomena, with a gun or with a tour…What does it mean? Maybe, it means that modern people see the things too quickly and they do not want to concentrate on any details. A process of portrait photographing can be described in the following way: "Our camera sees for us: it frames up a scene (a family, a historic building, a landscape), converts it into a two-dimensional image by the push of a button, and allows us to live under the illusion that in “having” something (a photograph) we have “done” something (an experience)" (Rugg, 1997). Thus, in the modern high-speed worlds' development portrait photography is focused on capturing the most appealing and remarkable images (Wallis, 1984, Rugg, 1997). Painting cannot be considered in such a quick manner, but people want to make photos of everything new and interesting. This photography portrait of 1984 made by Neil Libbert reflects dynamics of the American society. A woman is in a subway and she looking with interest around. Actually, people are surrounded by many images and during all our life we can do nothing more but support our interest in capturing images (Mulvey, 1975). Nowadays a quality of communication has improved, and portraits of people very often substitute a person's representation online. Another portrait reflects modern tendencies of British portrait photography. We can see a portrat by Murdo Macleod Roy Keane (2002). This is a British photographer and he makes people to hold something interesting and weird in their hands. On this picture we can see a dead crab and surprising eyes of a man holding it. This photo is stunning and makes us think about parallels between death and life. To my mind, one of the most intriguing photographers is Irving Penn, who characterized his work by properly organized compositions, where the subjects reflect different aesthetic themes. For example, one of his most famous portraits is Woman with a Rose (1950). This photographer is strictly focused on his subjects. His main strategy was to place an individual in the corner and make them find a pose that they were happy with there. In other words, Penn forced personalities to shape their bodies to match into a convenient position, but in the end he captured it in his shots and thus he stole the souls of the persons. Actually, portrait photographing is a complex process and not only a photographer has to underline the importance of his mood and exact manner of portraits performance, but also personalities or his models have to work hard to satisfy a certain mood and intentions of a photographer (King, 2008). Newhall claims: "After her, there comes a man with a tic, who everlastingly turns up the corner of his mouth, and in spite of it wants to be daguerreotyped; then another who blinks hiseyes rapidly, then an old lady who continually shakes her head. All these people cannot understand that they will never have a portrait by this process" (Newhall 1938, p. 63). Maybe, the actions of this photographer can be explained in such a way: we see things so quickly that we prefer only those which can be quickly experienced. Portraits should play a role not of large-format “nature” photographs, which can be very sentimentalizing, but they can underline a disappearing nature or experience of an individual. There is a famous expression for photographers: "Learning what you don’t want to photograph is only half the battle, though a large half. It’s also the half which can be put into words. The other half — which consists of one’s photographs — can only be depleted by any attempt to set up a verbal equivalent of whatever power they may have, what intentions" (Mabry, 2001.). As far as we can see, there is a strong connection between people's lives and intentions, reflections of all this in photos of the individuals (Firstenberg 2002). In accordance with ancient beliefs, the capturing of a person's image can give you a magical control over him. Thus, a portrait captures one's souls and even spirit. Of course, in the modern context it cannot be claimed that a photo captures one's life and may even outlive you. Another suggestion is that people, who died, had left their images and souls on photos. Concerning the ancient Greeks it was mentioned that statues preserved life – is one of the most common claims for sculptor meaning exactly the same things that gave a preserver of life (Ennis 2011, p. 125). A personal photography transcends mortality. This fact cannot be denied. Thus, the expression of our eyes and beauty of our faces will be available for our ancestors. The images fixed on photos cannot be changed. It means that the images are fixed points in time. Very often we are relaxed on photos; we can see ourselves in comfortable situations and in very happy moments of our lives. "Although the focus has mainly been on fine art photography, the further back in time the research goes, the more the definitions and genres blend and blur, and commercial portrait photography or war/documentary photography takeover. The latest example, in the timeline of the show, of such decisions by thecurators is a large 5foot panoramic photograph of Hiroshima taken in September 1945" (Chalifour 2003, p. 14). From this point of view, portrait photography can be represented as almanac of our happiness. A photo of two brothers the Kray Twins was designed by David Bailey (1984). They look serious and their suits and a color of the suits reflect a controversial nature of two brothers. If to be more exact, it is possible to claim that snapshots are documentary facts of our lives. From this perspective we can claim that the real moments of our lives are missed if we do not have exact photos in our family albums (People are not Sites). It is easier to perform as an experienced photographer in case the following conditions are performed: "In general, most portrait photographers seemed to understand at least the basic requirements of a good composition. Some never got it. As in painting, group portraits were more complicated to pose than individual portraits. An experienced photographer knew how to add variety to a portrait of multiple sitters and even encouraged some to glance away from the camera" (American Society and the Democratic Portrait 2007, p. 192). Conclusion Whatever happens in the studio and it is difficult for a photographer to make a good portrait, he can try to capture your image and steal your soul. People record good and bad times and photographers play a role of a mediator between their past and present. From this perspective taking a photo is a complex cultural link between two people or a group of people. If a photographer managed to capture one's soul or the essence of one's personality, then this portrait will successfully reflect all particular features of a certain individual. The bad times shall be recorded as the good ones. Give up part of your soul and you will get a magnificent portrait. We donate the sincerest emotions and reflect them in photos.     References American Society and the Democratic Portrait 2007, Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, 97(2), 191+. Ben-Shaul, N 2007, Film: The Key Concepts. New York: Berg. Brennan, T 1992 , The Interpretation of the Flesh: Freud and Femininity. London: Routledge. Chalifour, B 2003, The History of Japanese Photography. Afterimage, 31(1), 14. Daley, C 2001, The Body Builder and Beauty Contests (1). Journal of Australian Studies, (71), 55+. Ennis, H 2011, Death and Digital Photography. Cultural Studies Review, 17(1), 125+. Firstenberg, L 2002, Representing the Body of Archivally in South African Photography. Art Journal, 61(1), 58+. King, E. A 2008, Black & White: Two Portrait Stories. Journal of American Culture (Malden, MA), 31(1), 66+. Kirkpatrick, C., Nov. 29 2011, Of Myth and Men: The Photography of Dianora Niccolini. [online]. Available at: http://www.pwponline.org/blog/2011/11/29/of-myth-and-men-the-photography-of-dianora-niccolini/ [Accessed February 09, 2013] Mabry, R 2001, Fighting Fire with Fire: Reclaiming Phallocentric Conventions in Feminine Costume Dramas. West Virginia University Philological Papers, 47, 107+. Mulvey, L 1975,Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. [online]. Available at:http://imlportfolio.usc.edu/ctcs505/mulveyVisualPleasureNarrativeCinema.pdf [Accessed February 09, 2013] Newhall, B 1938, Photography: A Short Critical History (2nd ed.). New York: Museum of Modern Art. People are not Sites. [online] Available from: http://digital-photography-school.com/photographing-people-when-traveling [February 09, 2013]. Rugg, L. H 1997, Picturing Ourselves: Photography and Autobiography. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. Wallis, B. (Ed.) 1984, Art after Modernism: Rethinking Representation. New York: Museum of Contemporary Art. Retrieved from http://www.questia.com Read More