[Leica] Dehumanizing portraits?

[images at comporium.net (Tina Manley)]

At 02:56 PM 1/18/2009, you wrote:
>The New York Times magazine just ran a set of portraits of "Obama's People"
>
> 
>http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/magazine/2009-inauguration-gallery/index.html
>
>It feels to me as though the photographer went out of his way to 
>make all of his subjects look unnatural and bizarre. They are posed 
>awkwardly, the lighting is very peculiar, the camera angles are 
>unusual, and the subjects were usually photographed off-guard.
>
>What does anybody else think? Was the photographer here trying to 
>create a negative perception of these people?

They are all over processed and the people look uncomfortable and 
awkward.  The shadow around them looks unnatural.  I think the over 
processed look is the "fashion" in portrait photography but these are 
particularly bad examples.  I wouldn't want my portrait up there if I 
were any of these people.

Tina


Tina Manley
www.tinamanley.com