Chris Orwig - People Pictures: 30 Exercises for Creating Authentic Photographs

Chris Orwig

Peachpit Press

PEOPLE PICTURES:
30 EXERCISES FOR CREATING AUTHENTIC PHOTOGRAPHS
Chris Orwig

Peachpit Press
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Copyright 2012 by Chris Orwig

All photographs Chris Orwig unless otherwise indicated

Editor: Susan Rimerman
Copy Editor: Peggy Nauts
Production Editor: Lisa Brazieal
Interior Design and Composition: Kim Scott, Bumpy Design
Indexer: Karin Arrigoni
Cover Design: Mimi Heft
Cover Image: Chris Orwig

Notice of Rights

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. For information on getting permission for reprints and excerpts, contact: .

Notice of Liability

The information in this book is distributed on an As Is basis, without warranty. While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of the book, neither the author nor Peachpit shall have any liability to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the instructions contained in this book or by the computer software and hardware products described in it.

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ISBN-13: 978-0-321-77497-2
ISBN-10: 0-321-77497-3

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed and bound in the United States of America

For my high school sweetheart, soul mate, and best friendKelly.

And for our three girlsAnnika, Sophia, and the one to be born later this year!

Thank you to the editorial and production team for all of their tireless efforts and encouragement: Lisa Brazieal, Peggy Nauts, Kim Scott, Mimi Heft, and Sara Todd, you have made this project a breeze. Susan Rimermanyour editorial insight and direction have been divine.

Nancy Ruenzel, the publisher who has graciously taken a risk on me once again, thank you.

My colleagues at the Brooks Institute, where I teachthank you for your camaraderie and support.

My sponsorsLowepro, Epson, Wacom, X-Rite, Really Right Stuff, onOne Software, and Nik SoftwareI am proud to be a part of your team and I rely on your top-notch gear every day.

Ralph Clevenger, for never doubting that I would one day create a few good frames.

Keith Carterit is rare to encounter someone so kind and deep. Your influence and friendship have been profound.

Michael Ninness, over this last year you have become a stalwart beacon, springboard, and good friend. Im grateful for your wisdom, candor, and inspiration.

Bruce Heavinyour friendship, encouragement, and ideas continually spur me on. Thank you for believing in who I am and for seeing me through to who I am yet to become.

Dadfor showing me the way and for planting a seed of passion for photography in my soul.

Momfor teaching me about creativity and how to care for others with joy in my heart.

Godthe giver of light.

Chris Orwig photographed me in Las Vegas a few years ago, and it was a humbling experience as a photographer, particularly for one making his living on assignment for the international NGO and humanitarian community. Chris is a gentle person in the truest sense of the word. He is kind, and if this makes any sense at all, he listens with his eyes. When Chris photographs he slows down. Given his already calm, Zen-like personality, this is an accomplishment. He didnt ask me to grin, to mug at the camera (I did anyway). He just slowed down, looked through the camera, and photographed me. If I hadnt seen the photographs afterwards, Id have sworn that he never pressed the shutter. He used a couple different cameras, changing them without much thought, keeping his entire attention focused on his subject. I got the sense, being photographed by Chris, that the portraitnot just my portrait, but portraiture as a disciplinemattered a great deal.

The photography of people matters, because it allows us to look at a moment in the life of another person and see the differences and the similarities we share. Acting as both a window and a mirror, the portrait has the power of revelation, showing us something about both the photographer and the subject. This matters because the act of creating it is a relational act and a chance to connect with another person.

The portrait matters because life is fleeting, and we will not be here forever. When I was a teenager I spent hours looking at the work of Yousuf Karsh, poring over portraits of the artists and elite of his time, many of whom are now gone. But lose a loved one, as I have in the last 24 hours, and the value of a photograph becomes all the more evident. We are passing through time, all of us, unstoppably. We will change our times and be changed by them. The person I am now is not the person I will become, and when I get to the end of the time allotted to me, it will feel to me, and my loved ones, I hope, to have been far too short. The portrait cannot undo this, nor slow it down. But it creates milestones for us, way markers that say, This is who I am, and who I have been.

All we have in life, really, are people and moments. The portrait captures both simultaneously, and tells a story about the characters in our lives. It shows a person in a place and a time in which they will never be again; it stops the clock and says, Look at this person; she matters. This moment matters. And whether that portrait is serious or the brief result of a cheesecake grin, were a little closer to seeing the soul.

Portraiture, formal or otherwise, is not a technical pursuit. Its a relational and aesthetic pursuit achieved through technical means. What Chris teaches is what all great portraitists have always known; that it is assumed you will be growing in excellence in your craft, but that the art is accomplished in the moment you connect with a subject and make a photograph that is honest and revealing, not merely representative of the shape of their face and the line of their smile.

Steve McCurry calls it the moment the soul comes into view. That moment doesnt happen when the photographer himself is guarded and impenetrable; we open ourselves to those who are open to us. And so the great challenge of making photographs of people is not which aperture to choose or which lens to use; those are small matters easily learned. The great challenge is a relational one; to create a connection in which the subject feels comfortable enough to drop their guard.

Transparency doesnt come easily to us. We spend a great deal of effort building walls to feel safe. We learn to mug for the camera at an early age, knowing, as the most remote tribes seem to know, that the camera is capable of seeing your soul if not stealing it. Its a gift to be able to sit in front of another human being and photograph them. Even more so when you convince them to drop their guard and be ready for that moment, that rare, beautiful moment when the soul comes into view.