When I am in a book store I’m pretty sure I always end up looking at all these photo books. I love photography so, why not look at other artists work? It would be stupid not to. And that is why we as photographers take photos, to share what we saw!! I guess it is a sort of respect I have for other photographers. To actually look at their work, take it in, and think about what I am looking at.
My boyfriend happened to show me a book he had, and he said it was something he thought would interest me. It was a photo book, and a small one at that. I initially did the “oh, no.” Don’t ask me why I had such a weird reaction to this photo book at first glance.
The book is called “The Regulars.”
The intro was hilarious only because it was so realistic with Jonathan Franzen’s distaste for Philadelphia, and he wasn’t afraid to show it. I liked the portraits. However, I must mention that portrait photography is not my thing at all. It’s not my preferred style of photography at all. When I think of portrait photography I think of studio lighting, backdrops, sales, crappy poses, and the forced smile that one is supposed to make when the photographer says: “SMILE!” I’m into capturing someone naturally, avoiding the “Ham” aspect of portraits. I tend not to want to take pictures of camera-whores. People who throw up the some crazy fingers meaning whatever the hell it’s supposed to mean, the duck faces, and the other crazy faces that are made to make pictures ridiculous. I am in love with photos where the subjects don’t even realize they are being photographed. They happen to be in the zone at the moment, or truly have no idea a camera is around. When a person is aware that the camera is there I think it affects the outcome immediately. There are some grey areas to that though. If you have a person that honestly does not care if a camera is in front of them or not, and they can truly be themselves regardless…than my friends, you may have some special subjects! I get that feeling when I look at the portraits in this photo book. You can feel the real-ness of the photos. You can feel the stress of the day that the subject had that particular day, even the great day they had, or just how a certain subject looks at life. I found myself feeling a different way when looking at each portrait. I’d say she did a great job just based on my emotions alone.
A photo book has been something I have thought of, but thats an adventure I would have to thoroughly look into. I’d love to have my own work published! That’d be amazing to be quite honest. Although, sometimes I feel like I’m still an infant when it comes to being a photographer.
There is some research to be done, and I intend to look into this.
