I adore thinking about philosophy and the reasons why we do things. When it comes to photography, there are many contradictions and tensions. But what I love most of all about portrait photography is that it is not simply about taking a photo. It’s more than that. It’s about the curiosity and sensitivity needed to understand a person, and then the trust and understanding that comes from the subject of the photo. On capturing reality and conveying truth, Eudora Welty, author and photographer, describes it best:
I learned quickly enough when to click the shutter, but what I was becoming aware of more slowly was a story-writer’s truth: the thing to wait on, to reach there in time for, is the moment in which people reveal themselves. You have to be ready, in yourself; you have to know the moment when you see it. The human face and the human body are eloquent in themselves, and stubborn and wayward, and a snapshot is a moment’s glimpse (as a story may be a long look, a growing contemplation) into what never stops moving, never ceases to express for itself something of our common feeling. Every feeling waits upon its gesture. Then when it does come, how unpredictable it turns out to be, after all.
I particularly love what she says about the interesting solitude of a photographer.
If exposure is essential, still more so is the reflection. Insight doesn’t happen often on the click of the moment, like a lucky snapshot, but comes in its own time and more slowly and from nowhere but within.
So Maggy is one of my best friends who moved to Melbourne to study, and as soon as we met each other, we just hit it right off. In fact, other people were asking if we already knew each other previously! But, we have a running joke, which is that every time we meet up, we end up at the National Gallery of Victoria. First, we did Hokusai, then we did the Triennial, which is where this set of summer portraits came from…what will it be next?
Although I’d been to the Triennial already, Maggy hadn’t, so it was the perfect time to step away from the art and capture other people appreciating (or not) the galleries, and to find that relatively elusive insight into the individual person, in this case, Maggy. I really do believe that a photo can capture a person’s soul, at least in a singular moment of time. But that takes time and sympathy and contemplation, and essentially, a whole lot of effort. I hope you see what a special soul Maggy is in these shots.
-nat 🌺💖