Since May I’ve probably done almost 100 portraits for clients. Portrait photography is my heart’s work.
Sometimes I wonder what it all means. Why am I doing this? I’m not saving the world, curing disease or fighting for justice. In mid-May, I met up with a friend I’ve known for years. She looks the same, but still wanted to hire me to take her portrait. After sending her the pictures, I saw her instagram post . It read:
“my friend Elizabeth walks with a camera and an eye for beauty. To me her photography finds that essence that is beautiful and unique in each of us. and it reminds me that noticing it in each other is a loving labor of presence and openness...reflected here in a snippet of her fabulous Portraiture ”
My life’s work, that I could never describe, summarized so well. Yep, that’s why I do it. And it doesn’t just apply to portraits. It’s in every moment I capture. Okay, moment I capture is a cliche that I’ve alway avoided. It’s in every encounter I have with the camera. My loving labor of presence and openness is what I try to give back to people. So that they can see how amazing they are.
It applies equally to events, fine art and abstractions. Editorial would call if documentary, or lifestyle. In marketing, it’s branding or brand storytelling. If it were a hashtag, it would fall under #candid It’s why I love Diane Arbus so much. Her portraits are these things too. Such context, such human-ness, and such a loving labor of that stuff.
A Christening in Queens, NY
