Why Portraits?
When I started photography (I mean seriously, right after i bought my first DSLR), i know I had to focus on just one area cos i don’t want to be another jack of all trades.
I chose to focus on portraits.
But why portraits?
Two simple points.
One, I am a people-person. I like team work. I love working with people. I think that’s the solid answer. That is where the drive is. I want to direct, to move their bodies and faces, to create emotions. I wanted to capture a lot of people.
Two, I cannot have it as a hobby so it has to be income generating. Among the modes of production in photography, commercial is the one that sells best. Portrait falls under commercial photography.
Now, let me share more to you about these modes.
There are four modes of production in photography — amateur, art, science and forensics, and commercial.
Amateur photography is basically hobby photography. You do it as a hobby and not for profit. The quality of work may be highly specialized or eclectic in its choice of subjects. A lot of professional photographers started as amateurs. I was amateur for ten years.
Art photography (usually fine art photography or documentary photography) is photography that tries to imitate painting styles. Conceptual photography (photography that turns a concept or idea into a photograph) is under this area.
Science photography covers photography involving capturing science phenomenons (like eclipses), studies of creatures and plants (photomicroscopy and macro photography), and recording events and data in science and engineering. Forensics photography on the other hand covers events in accidents and crime scenes (infrared and ultraviolet photography).
Commercial photography is simply paid photography, the photographer is paid for images rendered. Money is paid for the subject of the photograph or the photograph itself. Now this is a vast area cos it includes advertising, fashion, glamour, still life, food, editorial, landscape, wildlife, paparazzi, wedding or events, and portraits. Photographs made are sold directly to the end user of the images.
Okay that’s all for now, I guess. You didn’t just learn something new about me, but about photography as well.
I am sharing with this entry a small gallery of some of my earlier works. Enjoy!
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Reference:
Modes of Production – Wikipedia
