A friend posted the following story on my Facebook wall yesterday. It confirmed what I have always thought about portrait photography ... the photographer oftentimes photographs the relationship between themselves and their client.
It's about mutual trust and respect but it's also about what the subject allows to be known of themselves ... the story he or she tells, the glimpses we are allowed. That's why I prefer to take an hour or two with a portrait session. I love to enter an environment that makes them comfortable. I love if we have time to chat, to get to know one another in a relaxed situation. It doesn't take long usually.
In this experiment the photographers all captured something of the person their subject presented himself as. I thought it the perfect illustration of how portrait photography should be.