What Makes An Image A Portrait?

What Makes An Image A Portrait?

By William Lulow

As a primarily a portrait photographer, I have written often on this subject. There are millions of pictures of people out there, but what makes any one of them a true portrait? I think there are several factors that are involved. One is that it should have some kind of concept. A thought process on the part of the photographer needs to be evident. For example, the lighting has to be consistent with the kind of message the portrait conveys. Two, I believe that the subject should be aware that he or she is being photographed. I think it makes an incredible difference in the overall impact of the image. With this being said, this doesn’t always mean that the subject has to be looking at the camera. Three, it should reveal something of what both the photographer and subject were doing. It could be a simple discussion or an interaction between the two. Or it could be what I have called a “meaningful moment.” Portraits are special types of photographs because the really good ones make the viewer really think about what was happening with the photographer and the subject.

I recently had such a moment in the middle of shooting a concert with singer/songwriter John Gorka. Gorka is a real entertainer and his songs accompany his story-telling in a very humorous way. He gets his audiences involved with his songs and makes them pay attention to his tales. As I was shooting him, in the middle of a song, he looked directly at me with a kind of knowing look, almost as if he were singing his song to me. I was ready to trip the shutter and captured what I think is a real portrait of him:

For a stage shot, this was quite fortuitous because the image almost looks like it could have been taken in my studio. The expression, lighting and John’s attitude all say what I wanted to say about him as a performer. It may not have been possible to get just this expression if I were shooting him in the studio. Often it is possible, but this image shows his awareness of me and what I was trying to do.

Here are some other images from that performance, but you can see how much more powerful the image of him looking directly at me was:

Street photography or capturing people doing what they do is an important genre as well, and those images can speak volumes. But when someone is aware that he or she is being photographed, and is looking right at the camera, it sets up a special connection that  becomes quite evident in the portrait. And it is that connection that makes the portrait powerful.