These last few challenges have just been chock full of animals, landscapes, sunsets and inanimate objects.
Come on people show me some…well people! 😉
So this next challenge is people-oriented, though you do have a little bit of wiggle room to get around the need for a human in your frame since i guess you could take a portrait of your dog…but I’m really preferring portraits of human beings for this one but I don’t want to quash your creativity…so you photograph whatever is in your heart…just make it human beings.
Here’s the thing, I’m using the term “portrait” very loosely here. This doesn’t have to be a head and shoulders standard portrait (but can be if you so wish). This can be any photo of a person, posed or unposed but the subject must (and this is the most important part hence the bold text and the bright color) be aware that you are there focusing your camera on them and only them.
Most people become uncomfortable and self conscious when they are aware the camera is focusing on them. That fact in itself changes the whole dynamic of a photo. I much prefer to shoot candids over portraits because the fact that the subject is very aware that I am focusing on them and when they seem uncomfortable and self-conscious that in turn makes me uncomfortable and self-conscious and then it is just an endless cycle of uncomfortable self-consciousness that is just plain awkward.
So choose your subject and choose your environment and get to work. Feel free to pose your subject or showcase that nonchalant “I know you’re there but I’m pretending that you aren’t there clicking away” moment.
Pay attention to your backgrounds (they can make or break a great portrait) and the lighting of your subject( be it natural light or flash).
Heck maybe even go for an environmental portrait which is defined as: a picture of a person executed in the subject’s usual environment, such as in their home or workplace, and typically illuminates the subject’s life, surroundings and or passions.
Photographing a person in their natural surroundings enables a photographer to better catch a glimpse of their character or personality by also surrounding them with their life, work or passion, be it table full of baked goods or their garage full of classic cars.
Deadline for entries will be February 5th. Feel free to email me your entries (mreid@kitsapsun.con) if you have a hard time uploading them to the Upload Photo Challenge Pix link to the right of this page.
I encourage you to shoot your challenge entry during the time frame that it is posted but I will accept older photos (begrudgingly).
Stand-outs will be chosen and published in the Kitsap Sun.
Here are some examples of posed portraits from our archives:
Gary Kanekkeberg, a 75-year-old lifelong South Kitsap guy who has 16 classic cars in the garage at his house. (LARRY STEAGALL / KITSAP SUN)
Marty Simpson and Tara Prendergast at their Broken Ground Farm in Eglon on Wednesday, March 28, 2012. (MEEGAN M. REID/KITSAP SUN)
Verne Christopher inside one of his out buildings that is full of old cars, and military vehicles. He was one of two local’s to be featured on the History Channel hit show American Pickers. (LARRY STEAGALL / KITSAP SUN)
Gary Kanekkeberg, a 75-year-old lifelong South Kitsap guy who has 16 classic cars in the garage at his house. (LARRY STEAGALL / KITSAP SUN)
Rachel Soule, of Poulsbo, was an extra in UK pop artist Cheri Moon’s “One Crazy Summer” video which was filmed at Skateland in Bremerton. (Meegan M. Reid | Kitsap Sun)
South Kitsap’s Joe rose is headed for the class 4A state tournament next month. (Steve Zugschwerdt | For the Kitsap Sun)
Norma Davis, 90, has vivid memories of the time she was stationed in Honolulu with her Navy husband George Davis. (LARRY STEAGALL | KITSAP SUN)
Here are some examples of un-posed portraits:
David Buchanan, of David Wade Woodworking, prepares a cabinet door for gluing at his shop in Poulsbo on Wednesday, August 8, 2012. (MEEGAN M. REID / KITSAP SUN)
Aarne Bielefeldt from California gets close to the judges at the North American Beard and Mustache Championships at the Bremerton Elks Lodge to show his curled whiskers on Saturday. He scored a perfect score and won first place in the freestyle category. (LARRY STEAGALL / KITSAP SUN)
Monica Downen, owner and operator of Monica’s Waterfront Bakery & Café, gets a cookie for a customer at her establishment in Old Town Silverdale on Thursday, February 2, 2012. (MEEGAN M. REID / KITSAP SUN)
Seen through the window of Cornerstone Coffee in Bremerton, Ed Cain talks about when he was a 21-year-old reporter who rushed to Dallas after the Kennedy assassination and was one of the last reporters to see Lee Harvey Oswald alive. (MEEGAN M. REID | KITSAP SUN)
Jeff Gales is refracted in the fresnel lens as he talks about the restoration of the Point No Point lighthouse in Hansville on Wednesday, May 09, 2012. (MEEGAN M. REID / KITSAP SUN)
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