Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/02/01

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Re: Winter in GA
From: Brian Reid <reid@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
Date: Fri, 01 Feb 2002 14:57:20 -0800
References: <200202012216.RAA19492@cliff.concentric.net>

I do formal portraiture. I used to work for a good portrait studio (in the 
1960s) and at my father's funeral in May 2001 I paid a local studio in 
Maine to produce portraits of my family since we were all together. I would 
not choose a portrait photographer whose portfolio shots looked like these. 
However, I know a lot of people who think that this is what good portraits 
are supposed to look like, and somebody has to produce the pictures that 
those people want.

The person who taught me portrait photography hammered away on me for ages, 
saying "The best portrait is the one that the client likes the best. Your 
opinion doesn't matter." People who are a generation older than me (there 
is a diminishing number of such people) like best the portraits like the 
one in the web site we are discussing here.

If you believe that formal poses are what you want, and if you are not 
Bachrach or Karsh, then you should at least learn how to pose the people to 
get the effect you want. You should also know something about lighting, but 
that's a little harder to teach.  
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In reply to: Message from George Lottermoser <imagist@concentric.net> (Re: [Leica] Re: Winter in GA)