Portraits assignment
As the Portraits assignment deadline approaches, it’s time to start drawing some conclusions.
I’ll still give it another try this evening but, so far, I only have 2 out of the 3 sets of pictures we were supposed to have and I am happy only with one of them.
The main problem has been my strategy for contacting people and making clear what I wanted to do. Given the time constraints, I’ve spent far too much time getting to know the people I wanted to photograph and letting them know me. In one of the cases, I went to visit three times, spending a couple of hours each visit. In the end, I didn’t succeed in convincing them to pose for me and yet, I cannot say it has been a waste of time; quite the opposite, in fact, because, not only I had a great time but, I’ve started building a relationship which I hope, with some more time, will result in some very interesting portraits; perhaps even a nice, short, photo essay. And also, while at their workshop, I had the chance to meet a few other quite interesting people; among them, sculptor, poet, writer… Fernando Garcia Ramos.
Mr Garciarramos, as he likes to write his name, is an artist in the broad sense. At 83, he keeps himself very active, not only with sculpture and poetry but also with one of his great passions: learning languages. We had a good conversation in English, and then he talked to me in Russian, Italian, French, Rumanian,… It was a great honour for me to be able to visit his studio.
Fernando garciarramos. Sculptor, poet, writer.
Purely photographically speaking, I think I failed at doing a good portrait of him. I didn’t use the available light properly and I didn’t find the right composition despite the very interesting location. I was obsessively repeating myself: “this is such an interesting place, you should be able to do a good photo here”. And that recurring thought, totally blocked me.
I find myself so nervous and uncomfortable directing people that I can’t put my mind to think of the details, possibilities, solutions, etc. around the situation and I end up rushing through the session. I guess all that shows in my face, not making the subject very comfortable either.
After that, I was so desperate for portraits that I went out asking people in the shops around, just in case everything else failed. Although that adventure also took to some interesting places, I do not have a single good image to show.
The one shoot I am quite happy with, is the one I did with film director Cándido Pérez de Armas. The first idea was to take some photos at his workplace but, as he is just editing right now, that would had meant a room with a computer. Having a list of a few of his favourite movies, I decided that I wanted him in the role of George Valentin, The artist. And so, with some studio lighting magic… we created three scenes from the movie. Some photos in the next post!
Stills from movie The Artist.
To conclude, I must say that this has been a very demanding assignment. I keep joking with my friends about this course being more about self discovery and training interpersonal skills than about photography. Well, it’s always been said that photography is much more than pressing the release button. Not that I ever doubted it but it’s now that I am learning what that “much more” really means. Very rewarding and enjoyable in any case!