Portraits

Most of my photography has dealt with rather inanimate objects: landscapes, flora and of course minerals. People, and portraits in particular, I find fascinating but I have not really begun to try to photograph them in any serious way. This is largely because many of the people I know are relatively camera shy...and so am I, only from behind the camera. I have not completely gotten over the feeling that I am somehow being invasive with my camera.

I had the opportunity, a week ago, to meet a person on the U-Bahn in Munich on my way back from my first day at the Münchner Mineralientage, Europe's largest trade show for minerals, gems and fossils...and more. After a chat and being people of some spontaneity, we arranged to meet for brunch the next day. It turned out that my new friend was quite photogenic, quite happy to ham in front of a camera and, given the day off (she was working for one of the dealers), quite willing to model at the show from some images I need for an article I am writing.

However, not far from the restaurant where we met was a bridge over the Isar that made for an impromptu studio. I won't get into the details of why we needed to get to the grassy spot next to a playground at the end of the bridge---just think "pets"---but seeing the colorful trees, including the greenish bark and the subtle background of children playing made me suggest trying some "hide-and-seek" sort of photos. Trying to make a posed picture seem like it isn't is not that easy. At first, one doesn't necessarily appreciate the nuances involved in getting a portrait to say what one wants it to say until one is attempting to produce an image as imagined.

I am, of course talking about deliberate portrait photography rather than the more "capturing the moment" type, in which one, either by anticipation and good timing, or by sheer dumb luck, manages to depress the shutter release at the very moment someone, unaware of the camera pointing in their direction, does something that when frozen in time, expresses a particular emotion well.

At any rate, I was still surprised at how many times Margee had to sneak, jump, or whirl around that trunk to get the three or four shots I thought were good enough to keep.