Pixiq

Artists are more interesting to me than most people and I love photographing them because it gives me a chance to do some creative and fun photos. For over thirty years, I’ve photographed art and the artists who make the art and continue to enjoy the challenge each one presents.  

The key to any good portrait is making an interesting image that visually expresses or captures an element of the subject’s personality. However, for a portrait of an artist you need to take an additional step and show the viewer something about the work the artist creates. 

That is not always easy. Too often we think of portraits as merely face shots without any surrounding space. That makes for dull images. Give people room to breathe and when photographing artists give some space for their work too, To help you with portrait shots e in general and specifically for the photography of artists, here are some helpful tips.

Know your subject.

It is critical in portraiture to know your subject. Great portrait photographers, such as Henri Cartier-Bresson and Yousof Karsh could almost create a psychic link with their subjects that allowed them to make revealing images of some of the world’s most famous people. They would find an expression or a setting that reveal something of the inner person. The rest of us, lacking any ESP, have to work hard at portraits. We need to search to find a “hook” that will connect subject and viewer. Forgetting that connection is the biggest mistake people make shooting portraits. You see it often when people photograph their kids. They know the kids so well they assume that everyone else does too. However, cute kids are only cute when there is something in the photo that makes the viewer see them that way. Otherwise, the photo falls flat on its face, so to speak. 

Taking charge.

 Working for magazines and newspapers with short deadlines, I learned that, sometimes there is no time to research a subject. You have an appointment and it is a “wham, bam, thank you ma’am” shoot. 

A good photographer tries as hard as possible to be in control of a situation. For me, that means slowing things down. One way is to sit down with your subject and shoot the breeze for a moment and get them talking about their work. A trick I developed is my “set-up” routine. When I arrive at a shoot, if a subject is nervous and trying to rush things, I start to setup my gear, slowly, and I talk a lot. Telling a few good jokes (or even a few bad ones) helps to break the ice and that quickly gives me control of the shoot. 

Know the artist's space. 

Most visual artists and craftspeople have studios, working spaces that, I think, tell you a lot about them. Studios are colorful and often quite dramatic, great backdrops for strong photographs. Walk around the studio and get a sense of it. Imagine what elements of the studio need to be in the pictures. 

Catch the energy. 

Artists rarely sit still and a photo of one just standing in front of their work or worse just standing staring at the camera is like a photo of a beautiful butterfly pinned to a display board. A good way to catch an artist’s energy is to get them working and doing their art. Not only does this make for more interesting images, but also when anyone does a familiar task, they tend to relax and that make for better images. 

Catch the light. 

Needless to say, photography depends on light and the photographer’s task is to use light to express things. Honestly though, it is an area I have mixed feelings about. On the one hand, I love natural light, the ambient light that fills a space. However, there is always the issue of control and bringing in lighting gear to create a lighting space to meet your needs.  

Professional photography is about finding answers to visual puzzles. How do I illustrate this or show that? There’s no clear answer to lighting, every situation has to be figured out on its own merits. 

For instance, I start by thinking in terms of the ambient light. Will the existing light give me the look I’m after and if not what sort of lighting do I need to add? Always look for the simplest solution to any lighting question. I also try to resolve lighting by thinking of how the portrait will be used. Are we talking about a ¼ page photo illustrating an article or a two page opening shot spread across the gutter? Will this be a publicity shot for posters or tiny announcements on Facebook? 

Catch the colors. 

Art is all about color and light. In a studio what could be a better background than a room full of colorful canvases? However, this is where your “eye” is critical. Looking at the colors in the studio, the lighting, and the subject, you have to choose a color palette for the image. Decide what will be the dominant color in the photo; what will be the subordinate colors. (For more about color please look at my book “Capture The Light” in which I get into a fuller discussion of color and it's use.) Looking at the pictures I've  posted in the Gallery, you'll notice see that I have a limited number of colors in each photo, this I believe make for stronger images than those of multiple and conflicting colors. 

Putting it All Together. 

Sometimes a photo is worth a thousand words. To help you understand how these tips work I put a number of pictures in the Gallery that illustrate these concepts. Please read the following and refer to the images as listed.  

Mardie Rees; Mardie is a young Northwest sculpture whose work is getting a lot of attention. She works in bronze and stone. I like the contrast in this image between the warm tones of her face and pink blouse and the cold stone materials she works with. 

Macha Smyrne: Macha is a freelance artist who spends a good deal of her time on the road. I met her at an exhibition of her work in Minevois, France and got this shot of her preparing to do some Sumi brushwork painting. 

Tom J. Byrne:  Tom’s an Irish painter living in Paris. I met him at a small gallery-sitting at a hole-in-the-wall place on the Ile-de-cite. He is a traditional, representational artist with a great eye for detail. 

Doug Granum:   Doug is a painter, sculpture, jewelry maker, musician, and raconteur, which made it difficult to find a single image to define him. However, he loves incorporating nature in his work and he loves his huge Japanese garden. We walked into the tall grasses that grow near his house, and that’s where I got this shot. Notice that like the photo of Mardee Rees, there are only a few colors in this image-Doug’s skin tones and lots of green.