[Leica] Dehumanizing portraits?

[imagist3 at mac.com (George Lottermoser)]

Interesting photos and discussion.
I find a few of them odd and "unreal;"
yet, more of them quite "real;"
as in how they "look" most of the time.
(even though the white background
removes all context)

I understand
yet also flinch
at people's expectation
of a "beautiful portrait;"
which often translates
into an "unreal" look of the subject
as well as the photograph.

We certainly live in a global culture
which expects our celebrities
and CEO's to look good,
powerful, and beautiful.

They're just people.
They're just photographs.

Regards,
George Lottermoser
george@imagist.com
http://www.imagist.com
http://www.imagist.com/blog
http://www.linkedin.com/in/imagist
Picture A Week - www.imagist.com/paw_07




On Jan 18, 2009, at 1:56 PM, Brian Reid 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?
>
>
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