growth

 

I’d photographed her first a year ago, a then very timid seven year old. Returning clients are what we as portrait photographers hope for, and appreciate, most. Watching a family evolve and grow…….feels to me like a privilege really.

However, once a child reaches an age when the yearly changes are much less dramatic, I feel added pressure within myself to come up with something original. I guess this is why so many photographers invest endless sums of money on new backdrops and props, hoping to keep things fresh for their loyal clients. As one who chooses to take a minimalist approach to my portrait work, this presents a dilemma, and I will admit there are times I feel it would be so much easier to simply plunk the child down on a big wooden numeral corresponding with their age and be done with it.

What are we really hoping to achieve in making a portrait? What is it that we are responding to when viewing a portrait worthy of being looked at a second time? Who or what is actually being revealed in the portraits we create? These are the questions that run through my head and beg to be answered prior to each session I take on.

Perhaps I should approach these returning clients differently though, change my perspective a bit. Might it be wiser if I proceed with the question, “how have I grown since last we met”? Using the session as an opportunity to dig deep for an answer. Maybe nothing really is original. Maybe all we can hope to do is breathe into our creations something fresh and raw and authentic from within ourselves.

~Cynthia