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‹ Photo Notes · 3 prosince, 2013
How many times have I read, in various forums, debates (even squabbles) about whether the photo is made by the photographer or the model. Far from everyone was willing to admit that both stand behind the result and without one of them it wouldn’t be the same. Hard to say whether the photo would be better or worse, but it would be different.
In film the screenwriter submits the story, the director presents it in his own way, so do the cinematographer, the lighting crew and others. But what would they present without actors? Some bet on known names, others pick new charismatic faces (and make known names out of them). Nevertheless, without careful selection of performers of the lead and supporting roles, a film with the best script, however perfectly directed, shot and lit, will be for the audience an uninteresting and half-baked piece.
Who is a good photographer?
Is it the one who masters the technique superbly? No, there are so many technically skilled photographers with uninteresting photos.
The photographer often takes on the roles of screenwriter, director, cinematographer, lighting technician, sometimes even stylist, set hand, visagiste and other professions, all for the sake of a single static shot. And of course he must also choose correctly whom to cast in the role of his photographic mini-story.
If I hadn’t done it myself once, I’d probably be in shock today at how many photographers photograph „anybody“ in the conviction that they will automatically have superb photos. It is a tragic mistake, excusable and explicable only if you have volunteered for community service.
Anyone who wants to create a work, not merely a photograph, must choose carefully whom to cast in the role!
Imagine the best idea, technically perfectly handled, executed with a run-of-the-mill, boring and uninteresting person. I don’t have anything specific in mind now, I’m not talking about height, weight, leg length, size of bust and hips … I’m talking about a charismatic person who suits a particular photograph.
Personally I even distinguish the charisma of individual parts of the body; it isn’t only about the face. One model I’ll use for a photo where the legs are important, another I’ll choose for her armpits, hands, fingers. And at other times I’ll make a compromise and choose what is most important.
That is also why, to the question new models ask – „and do you know what we’ll shoot together?“ – I answer that I have to get to know them first, so that I know.
You can be as technically skilled a photographer as you like, with exceptional ideas, but without the right model your photographs will stay somewhere halfway.
So pamper your good models, in their own way they are irreplaceable.
Who knows whether anyone would be interested in the Mona Lisa today, had Leonardo da Vinci chosen a different sitter…