Genuine question. I honestly don't know what to think, and I'd love to know your views. I ponder this every year as the Taylor Wessing competition comes round.
We see many portraits of famous people. Famous photographers tend to photograph famous people. Great portraits capture something telling about the sitter. Some photographers become famous for taking great portraits, and those that become famous are generally those of famous people. But with a few exceptions (e.g. Steve McCurry's Afghan Girl or Dorothea Lange's Migrant Mother), ordinary people don't tend to become famous as a result of their portrait.
So does it matter if you have never heard of the sitter? Would you be as interested in a portrait of my wife's mother's former school teacher as in a portrait of - say - Steve McCurry or Nelson Mandela or Gwyneth Paltrow? Would you buy - indeed, have you bought? - a portrait of an unidentified sitter? Taylor Wessing prize-winners often seem to be of people I have never heard of. It is interesting to see them and to try to understand why the judges chose them. When I bought books of portraits by HCB and Jane Bown, I had to Google almost all of the sitters. Once I knew a little background, the portraits became more interesting, but they were beautiful photos even before that.
If we are to be interested in an unidentified sitter, do we need more clues to be present in the photo, since we know nothing about them in advance? Must it, in effect, be an environmental portrait, or is there enough written in a face?
We see many portraits of famous people. Famous photographers tend to photograph famous people. Great portraits capture something telling about the sitter. Some photographers become famous for taking great portraits, and those that become famous are generally those of famous people. But with a few exceptions (e.g. Steve McCurry's Afghan Girl or Dorothea Lange's Migrant Mother), ordinary people don't tend to become famous as a result of their portrait.
So does it matter if you have never heard of the sitter? Would you be as interested in a portrait of my wife's mother's former school teacher as in a portrait of - say - Steve McCurry or Nelson Mandela or Gwyneth Paltrow? Would you buy - indeed, have you bought? - a portrait of an unidentified sitter? Taylor Wessing prize-winners often seem to be of people I have never heard of. It is interesting to see them and to try to understand why the judges chose them. When I bought books of portraits by HCB and Jane Bown, I had to Google almost all of the sitters. Once I knew a little background, the portraits became more interesting, but they were beautiful photos even before that.
If we are to be interested in an unidentified sitter, do we need more clues to be present in the photo, since we know nothing about them in advance? Must it, in effect, be an environmental portrait, or is there enough written in a face?