Portraits - More Than Candid

In the box above the section where you write the blog post, PLEASE TITLE THIS POST "Second Portrait." Some of you title your blog posts correctly. Please help those who are not doing this yet.

In the last week, two important photographers died. Both took portraits.

The first photographer was Magnum Photographer Rene Burri. Burri photographed Che Guevara, Pablo Picasso, Maria Callas, Ronald Reagan and many others. Burri even photographed Winston Churchill when Burri was thirteen.

Alfred Wertheimer, the photographer for Elvis Presley, died this week too. Alfred began photographing Elvis when Alfred was 26 and Elvis was 21. Elvis would become one of the most popular people in the history of the world. Wertheimer's "The Kiss" image is one of the most popular images of the 20th Century.

Both photographers were lucky; both worked hard to gain the trust of their subjects. Both photographers also knew how to use a camera. While both men were lucky, they were dilligent. Supposedly, Burri spent four years organizing the portrait shoot of Picasso.

Perhaps because I know that some photographers work for years to take a portrait, I hesitate to call this assignment "candid portraiture;" however, some students understand this term better than informal portraiture.

Here is one helpful example of an article about candid portraiture.

I also hesitate to use the word candid, because I remember Candid Camera. I loved the show, but "candid" meant staged or fake. Portraits should be real.

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