Generally speaking, these early portraits were made in commercial portrait studios and follow a familiar format: the subject stands or sits in front of a nondescript background, their expressionless gazed fixed directly at the camera. This formulaic approach was one of necessity, not choice the long exposure times required by early photographic emulsions limited subjects to poses they could hold for several minutes without moving. These early photographs were very expensive, and most people only had one portrait made of themselves in their lifetime- a single visual record of their existence. Over the last 200 years, advances in technology and accessibility have made new kinds of pictures possible.
Individual photographs no longer have to encapsulate entire lives. Instead, they are free to explore the intimate nuances of a singular moment in time. The portrait is no longer confined to the professional photographer’s studio its territory is expansive. Every day, millions of people around the world are making portraits of each other- or themselves- in every setting imaginable. This liberated sense of authorship, access, and technology makes room for greater aesthetic freedom. Today, the “portrait” can be interpreted and executed in many different ways. This week, we’ll share the work of six contemporary photographers utilizing portraiture in their creative practice.Īrtist Colin Roberson photographs through a lens he refers to as a participant-observer. Seeking to better understand the economy of desire, the images in Taxi Dance are visual notes from his self-reflexive investigation of the sex industry explored from the inside out. I hadn’t anticipated my first trick’s proposition.
As the lights came up and the music died, he eagerly asked what it would cost to take me home. I laughed, then threw out the price of my monthly rent. After he agreed, I ran to the locker room to find out how much I should have asked. Said once I’d made that much money, that quickly, dancing for $1’s would never seem enough. He said it was a door I couldn’t close from inside. I slept Uptown that night and made $400 cuddling. He wanted more, but neither he nor I could get him there. “In the old romance of the artist, any person who has the temerity to spend a season in hell risks not getting out alive or coming back psychically damaged. there is a large difference between the activity of a photographer, which is always willed, and the activity of a writer, which may not be. One volunteers to seek out the pain of others.” – Susan Sontag, On Photography One has the right to, may feel compelled to, give voice to one’s own pain-which is, in any case, one’s own property.
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