Portraiture: looking for inspiration

nikontos

nikontos

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Name
Ed
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Hi, I like to make pictures of people. I have done a few recently and you can check and criticise my work so far in http://www.flickr.com/photos/portreti/ .
Understandably I am not happy yet, I am still looking for my own style. As much as I like fashion style photography it`s not my cup of tea. hard to describe what I want. definitely not pictures of people made more beautiful than they are. I would like my pictures to depict real life - but not the life as it seems on the surface, when you take a realistic snapshot of people. I also value the background and foreground a lot, but don`t have in mind the classic "portraits in enviroment" - eg. builder with spade etc. I want to show the spiritual side of my subject (sounds funy, but there must be one albeit very elusive).
Why am I writting all this? I wondered if you could post me some links to contemporary photographers who would do something similar to what I tried to describe:) thank you for helping me
 
Sorry, you don't need to look for inspiration and you don't need to look for a particular style. Enviously, I've just spent time looking at your images; follow your instinct! Most of your portraits look like promo shots for TV crime dramas.

Wish I could produce non studio shots of this quality.

Interestingly, you do a great job of using landscape composition for portraits.
 
Nice link, some cool images on there. Perhaps if you are looking for more of a connection with a subject and some intimate emotions or moments you should think of a project that requires repeat visits to the same person or group. That way they will become less conscious of the camera over time and you will catch some really genuine emotion.

The trick is to think carefully about what kind of story you want to cover. I really thik anybody from an amateur to a seasoned pro would struggle to wring real, unfettered emotion from a subject in just one sitting.
 
Thank you for encouragement and comments! As you noticed i hardly have any full body portraits and even then they usually are sitting:) - something I am learning now. I have, indeed, found some interesting backgrounds in London so far, but would like to also add some symbolic objects or shapes in the picture that would give a better glimpse at what I think of the person. Thus without "catching the soul in their eyes" I might still be able to make a meaningful portrait.
I checked the link and I liked the pictures very much. that is colse to what i am looking for. excelent portraits! thank you!
 
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