This past weekend, I had the opportunity to try my hand at portrait photography, and I have to say I think it turned out nicely. That was a huge relief because I really do not like shooting portraits.
I like photos. I like portraits. I like photography. I despise taking portrait photos. Why? Because I’m in charge.
I don’t know about other people, but personally, I have no idea what I’m doing. I mean, sure, I know what I’m doing as far as going to work, doing laundry, buying groceries and such. I can keep myself alive and put together a newspaper, but that’s about the end of my skills. When it comes to telling other people what to do, I don’t feel qualified.
That’s where a lot of my distaste for portraits comes in. There are some people who are really good at portrait photography. The graduation pictures, birthday photos, annual photos for grandma, even wedding photos. The very thought makes me shudder.
Photo subjects tend to ask questions. “Where should I stand?” “What should I do with my hands?” “How should I look?”
There are some fantastic photographers in Newton County who have answers to those questions. I am not one of them. How can I be qualified to tell you where to stand when I frequently can’t stand my own house without falling over?
Where should you put your hands? At the ends of your wrists. Anything past that and your guess is as good as mine.
How should you look? I don’t know. I’d suggest with your eyes.
I know those are snarky answers to legitimate questions. Those are questions a portrait photographer should be able to answer. I can’t. My posing ability is limited to waving a bag of Snausages above my head and cooing to keep the dog sitting still long enough for the shutter to close. I haven’t tried that with a human model, but something tells me they wouldn’t respond as well.
Luckily, we ended up getting several good photos on Sunday. I think most of the credit should go to my coworker’s daughter for graciously putting up with me. I didn’t have to do much beside take the pictures.
At the end of the day, we got it done, but the weekend shoot was more than enough to highlight my obvious shortcomings in portraits. I should work on that. Maybe there’s a YouTube channel or book series out there that can help me get a bit better at posing people, or at least make seem like I do. After all, if I can make it so no one knows what I’m doing, who can say it’s wrong.
Thomas Howard is the managing editor of The Newton County Appeal. He can be reached at thoward@newtoncountyappeal.com
