Alan Riding of The New York Times has reviewed a new exhibition of portraits by Henri Cartier-Bresson. Riding suggests in "From This Decisive Moment On" that Bresson seemed to not have struggled a great deal with the inner silences that build in the power relationship between the observer and the observed.
Riding's article brings to light a very significant aspect of portraiture in photojournalism in terms of capturing the "true" likeness of someone in a picture. "Perhaps the duel is over who sets the rules: the photographer decides when to press the shutter, but the subject can decide how much he or she reveals," Riding contends.
"How natural can a portrait ever be?" the author questions.
The idea of a portrait being "natural" is a curious proposition. Perhaps, the idea of making people appear "natural" in front of the lens is more to the point. The portrait is a social construction that attempts to capture some sort of ideal the photographer brings to the exchange. The notion that a portrait can be natural is a notion that wrestles with the uneasy silences that come from freezing a person's likeness in perpetuity.
I think we are socially conditions to act or perform for the camera. I notice this with children especially as they screw up their little faces in .... cheeeeeesy .... ways
