Portraits

To me, there is a fine line for what constitutes a portrait or not. In my case, it spurs from a feeling and a memory. At once it is the contractual feeling that you have entered into: a pact or a promise.

In asking people for a photo and them posing themselves the way they want to be seen, there is an engagement that follows. This doesn’t happen through a long lens that looks to steal a candid moment. Journalists the world over know that you must first know the story and for that you need to be intimate with the subject and hear them. Once that elusive feeling of warmth and understanding, without judgement ,happens then simply take two steps back and take the picture. When you feel that same intimacy come through the lens and you feel it fill your chest, you are at your destination.

Judgement is the barrier that keeps even true explorers from finding why they are in that place. It is not the discovery, but your own emotional growth - a connection that must be felt rather than seen. Places are not a simple destinations. The place can only be felt through the people that you touch and spend valued time with.

Staying in the moment may be one of the most difficult things that we do as humans. Many of us know only too well of the feeling of need: the drive towards success, the amassing of proof of life and the desire for adventure after adventure. It takes everything you have to be in the moment and to see inside people and hear what they are telling you. Each and every person has something to teach.

I seem to instantly love and cherish those that are willingly submit to this brief connection. These portraits make me feel vulnerable beyond comfort. They are a lifeline to a poor memory.