Originally Posted by
Peter Lewin
Honestly, I don't think that a portrait can really do more than depict what a person looks like.
I agree with this. I've known my wife intimately for 27 years and even the best photographs I've taken of her come nowhere near to capturing "who she is." Most all portraits we see are of strangers; therefore, if we think a portrait is a good one we base that solely on the aesthetics of the image. Did Avedon or Karsh or Steichen capture who their subjects were? Only people who knew those subjects well could say for sure.
I am reminded of what C.S. Lewis said about looking at photos of his recently deceased wife:
I have no photograph of her that's any good. The explanation is simple enough. We have seen the faces of those we know best so variously, from so many angles, in so many lights, with so many expressions--waking, sleeping, laughing, crying, eating, talking, thinking--that all the impressions crowd into our memory together and cancel out into a mere blur.
Jonathan
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