I am passionate about portraits. My shelves are full of books of the masters, and the human element is one I try to incorporate even in my landscapes. This post over at Personism caught my attention. And the fact that the shots are done on 8x10 (I still love my Deardorff) make it all the more interesting.
Everyone’s talking about portraits all of a sudden, and the timing couldn’t be more perfect for me. It’s not just my solipsistic preoccupation with my own headshot that’s got picture taking of people on my mind. In fact that’s the least of it (can you imagine?) Next Friday, after the dust settles from the Winter ‘07 Edition of Hey, Hot Shot!, we’ll open our first solo exhibition in a while. jb artist Benjamin Donaldson is debuting a series he’s been hard at work on for a couple of years, Summerland. A bit further down the line, my Summer group show, which I’m co-curating with Joerg just happens to be called… The New American Portrait.
Ben is a smart cookie, and a fabulous technician - his portraits, shot with an 8″ x 10″ camera, and printed 24″ x 20″ are divine. His Summerland subjects have been hypnotized, instructed to visualize “the most beautiful landscape imaginable.” They are utterly at ease, shoulders are sloped, some have beatific smiles. Photographing them in this state produces a slightly uncomfortable, yet thrilling sort of voyeurism. I look at them and wonder what they’re seeing, and soon enough my thoughts are wandering off to my own gorgeous vistas.
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