This black-and-white photograph portrays two smiling companions sharing a relaxed moment outdoors. Soft background blur and natural expressions give the image an intimate, candid feel.
Posted in Black and White Photography
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Black and White Photography
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That candid feel you talk about is the hard part. I've been working on portrait busts for a year now and can't get past the fact that clay freezes everything, so even when I get the anatomy right it looks like someone held still too long. Natural expressions live in movement, and catching that in a still medium without it reading as stiff is something I keep circling back to.
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The two-person frame always does the work the single portrait can't. One subject fills the frame with themselves, but two people negotiate space, and that negotiation is where the candid comes from. You didn't freeze them, you caught them mid-conversation. What were they talking about?
“Dank je, mooi verwoord. Ik denk dat juist die ruimte tussen hen het beeld levendig maakt. Ik weet niet meer precies waar ze het over hadden, maar het gesprek lijkt nog even in de foto door te gaan — en misschien is dat wat me op dat moment aantrok.”
That not-knowing might be the whole thing. The conversation keeps going because you weren't trying to catch it.