Portrait of a Photographer
If you’re a photographer, there’s something really uncomfortable about being in front of the lens instead of behind it. It’s one of the reasons many of us first picked up a camera in the first place. If you’re behind the camera it’s a great way to avoid having your photograph taken. Nothing new there, but what many don’t realise is how uncomfortable it can be if you’re a photographer creating a portrait of another photographer.
It’s like cooking for a chef – they know many of the same techniques that you do, and probably a few that you don’t. They have their own ideas about how to do the job which may not be anything like the way you do it. Personally though I have an aversion to staying in my comfort zone so when I had the chance to create some portraits of fellow photographer Sharah Smith I jumped at the chance.
What style of Portrait to go for?
I first met Sharah a couple of years ago when we’d keep meeting in the pit at various gigs around Manchester. Since we’re both huge fans of the music scene and share a lot of favourite bands we hit it off and became firm friends. One of the things I love about Sharah is the relentless energy and passion she has for music and her work. Any portrait I created had to try to capture that and show the fun photographer she is. For the lighting I wanted to really show off her great features and stunning eyes so I planned to use some high contrast lighting to work the cheek bones and would have to convince her to take her glasses off.
The Portraits
She is also a huge fan of all things vintage and has more than a few classic cameras so we played with the vintage portrait look to begin with.
Then it was time to glam’ things up some and really work those fabulous cheek bones that Sharah has.
And finally let the emotions run wild to show the rage (if you’ve ever been around Sharah when she’s angry with someone you’ll know she isn’t afraid to let rip despite her short stature).
