Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Portraits Portraits Portraits!

People are, for me, the most challenging and rewarding of subjects. I spent Saturday hanging out with longtime friend Don Giannatti. Don was sharing his extraordinary knowledge of lighting with a group of talented photographers. It was an exceptional workshop and has rekindled my desire to shoot portraits. As attendees share some of the images they made I hope to post them here.

In the meantime I thought I'd go back and revisit some of my early heroes. Photographers who inspired and taught through the images they made. It quite a diverse group. It will probably take several posts to visit them all. I hope you'll journey back with me.

First, for no particular reason, is Philippe Halsman. His images always looked so simple and felt so powerful. Click here to view his Retrospective Exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery. He's also credited with one of the great photographic quotes.

"I drifted into photography like one drifts into prostitution. First I did it to please myself, then I did it to please my friends, and eventually I did it for the money." -- Philippe Halsman