Recently I have started to take portraits of people. It's not something I have done much in my photographic career. Yes, sure I shoot weddings, people on location etc, but Real Portraits. not really. Until now that is
So what do I mean by a real portrait. Well an image that captures the essence of the sitter. Sounds corny, but here's a thing. Look at these two portraits.
The one on the left is to put it mildly very famous. Painted of course by Jan Vermeer. The other featuring Scarlett Johanssen in my humble opinion misses the mark. The photographer has faithfuly copied the original but the end result clearly lacks something. He might as well not have bothered. It doesn't engage me as a viewer. Clearly Vermeer is a difficult act to follow. I guess it's a bit like musicians making cover versions famous hits.
So where am I going with this? Well it's simple, people are too facinating in their own right. The "look" that Vermeer saw, he brought to life so successfully works in the painting but simply doesn't work for Scarlet Johanssen.
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