Balance

So now that it's finally the start of a new semester I'm anxious to get going with my portraiture, however no matter how excited I get to start I continue to feel apprehensive about actually grabbing whoever I need and picking up my camera. Obviously the start of class critiques will force me to jump into my work regardless of my apprehension; but what is really holding me back, despite my countless hours of preparation in terms of research, is the question of BALANCE.

The more I think about how I want to portray my subjects, the more I find myself scared to cross the lines between honest portraiture, over-pretentious glamour shots, and boring/already been done pictures of a person. I, more than anything, want to capture the most honest portrait possible when shooting my subjects, and I know I'm capable of catching that moment; but in my constant search for inspiration I always manage to find, more often then not, silly attempts at serious portraits and over-serious photos of a subject who isn't serious at all.

My goal this year is to portray my subjects in a way that accentuates their most unique characteristics, the things I find most beautiful about them. I'm terrified, though, that I won't be able to keep the balance between a simple portrait displaying the beauty of my subject and a lame attempt at isolating the things I want portrayed. I want to be more focused on my subject and who they are then what I'm doing with the light or how I'm holding my camera, which is why I don't plan on using the studio at all this semester. I'm hoping that by using my own locations and not having total control over my environment I can worry less about what the environment is doing and more how it's affecting my subject.

My struggle, I know, will be keeping it simple and making sure I know what I want from my subjects. I think the more prepared I am going into my sessions and the more knowledgeable I am about the tools I'm using, the better my photos will be and I really hope I can do justice to the beautiful ladies I will be photographing.