This is a sketch of me done by Anna Conti using her iPad during a party last night. Looking at it reminds me that when you make a portrait of someone it’s a lot more than just capturing their likeness. It’s trying to convey how you see someone — what features get your attention the most and how you interpret how they carry themselves. I think people tend to discount these subtleties in photographic portraiture. It’s just a camera and just a lens, per se, but they can be used a myriad of ways when capturing the likeness of someone. The interaction between subject and artist also contribute their own variation to the experience. In drawing this all more evident as everyone has their own style of drawing. In any case, while taking a break from photographing people, it was fun to be on the other side of a portrait. Thanks, Anna!
Thank you, Jason for indulging me by sitting still for so long (not many people can do it.) This is not really how I see you, but I guess it’s on the way there – I need more practice. But you make a really good point about drawing and photography: in both cases, a significant percentage of the result comes from within the artist/photographer, and I would argue that the next biggest percentage comes from the viewer. In most cases the subject contributes the smaller percentage to the result.