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Portrait Work
December 28, 2007Portraits are hard. It just isn't all that easy to really capture the essence of a person in a single shot.
You can't just show up to a place and not talk to them to get a sense of who they are and what kind of photo to take of them.
Even more upsetting is when the newspaper page designers don't get your shot... and destroy it for the sake of a "creative" page design without even talking to you about it.
Portrait shots are always intentional... everything in the frame of the shot was put there on purpose by the photographer. They are an expression.... and in my opinion... the only time we really get to truly be creative.
Jason Palmer/Times Record News
Ray Farabee stands in front of his Austin home eariler this summer. Farabee served the State of Texas as one of its most distinguished lawyers and legislators in a career that spanned five decades. He served as a State Senator from 1975 - 1988 and authored 245 Senate bills and 138 House bills that became law.
This was probably my fave. portrait of the entire year. Mainly because it wasn't really a set-up shot. But as Lynn Walker put it, it shows Ray Farabee exactly as anybody would have pictured him. Hands in his pockets... smiling like nothing in the world was wrong.
You can't really get better than that.
It wasn't an easy shot to get though, I was at his house in Austin alone, and that presents a problem because he wants to talk directly to me, and I'm trying to hold the camera away from my face so that it doesn't appear that he's looking right at me. This shot it was down around my waist and I only fired off 3 frames before his smile changed. Lucky Lucky.
Jason Palmer/Times Record News
Elvis tribute artist R.J. Quick performs at Scott's Drive-In on Jacksboro Highway on Thursday evenings.
It's the King... sitting in a brightly colored diner.... looking as if he's waiting for a greasy burger. I mean, come on folks. This is genius and I didn't even have to try hard.
The colors totally make this shot. But then again... so does Elvis. I basically laughed the entire time I was at this shoot.
Jason Palmer/Times Record News
Former Vernon District Attorney Jack Hightower sits in his office in Austin with a small portion of his extensive collection of political books and signed photographs on the wall behind him. Now retired, Hightower served in the Texas Senate from 1965-1974, the U. S. House of Representatives from 1975-1985 and was a Texas Supreme Court Justice from 1988-1996.
This was the other assignment from the Austin side trip during State Baseball. Jack Hightower was one of the classiest and nicest guys I've ever met. This man could have been the governor of Texas if he would have wanted it.
The assignment was pretty easy though, he had hundreds and hundreds of books he was donating to Baylor. All kinds of political books. That was going to have to be my background. It was simply a matter of moving things around in the office space and giving myself some room to work.
I didn't tell him how to sit in the chair or how to look. I wanted it to be however he wanted. The effect was somewhat regal in my opinion. I couldn't have asked it any better.
Posted by Jason Palmer at 10:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
