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<\/p>\nIn this project, I have been exploring the work of Irving Penn by actively retracing many of his choices. As I have done so, I have begun to discover some key artistic points where I am consciously diverging from his methods. Penn once said that he felt no obligation to make his subjects look kind or attractive.<\/p>\n
Speaking for my own work, when I am commissioned by clients to create their portraits, we spend a lot of time in advance planning, styling, and setting goals. Often they want to look kind, attractive, and approachable. I guide them to create the looks they want.<\/p>\n
This portrait project, however, stands apart from my regular work with clients. It is a personal artistic project. While I am deliberately beginning down the path that Irving Penn took, I am making choices rooted in my own methodology. Like Penn, I am not setting out to make these portraits specifically flattering to the subject, as I would for a client. I do little planning. I simply ask people to stand in a way they might for their work.<\/p>\n
I do, however, retain my interest in the micro-expression. I ask them how they feel about their work. What I’m finding interesting is that result is, more often than not, an expression that looks like pride. Sometimes, even nobility.<\/p>\n
I find myself diverging from Penn, therefore, in my approach to the subject. In this work, I am seeking not only to photograph the person, their tools and the uniform of the labor, but their dignity as well.<\/p>\n
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Ken, karate instructor, Lebanon, NH. Photographed in Plymouth, NH.<\/p>\n
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