What is your ultimate 4X5 portrait(not head shot) and why?
What is your ultimate 4X5 portrait(not head shot) and why?
By me? Or by someone else? What is yours? And when it comes down to it, why would format matter? A piece of film, a piece of paper, or a camera, is just a medium for transporting an image of an idea.
To answer your question more directly:My favorite portraitists who work (or worked) regularly in large format are: Nicholas Nixon, Sally Mann, Irving Penn, Arnold Newman, Edward Weston, Timothy Greenfield-Saunders, andPaul Strand. Sometimes William Wegman, Gregory Heisler, and Cindy Sherman and Chuck Close are in that pantheon as well.
Arnold Newman's Stravinsky (1946). Unexpected, creative composition.
I am not sure what format was used for this particular shot, but, Ansel Adams did a wonderful photograph of an old woman behind a screen door. To me, it seemed to capture the feel of poverty in the desert southwest.
Karsh did some fine work also!
To me, the finest portrait ever was by Arnold Newman, showing a demonic Krupps, strongly side lit, against the background of his armanents factory, with strongly converging perspective. Apparently Herr Krupps wasn't too happy about it! I photograph products rather than people, but if I had the capability to have taken that shot I would give up my speciality tomorrow. In my view, most so-called portrait photographers are sadly lacking in both technique and creativity. I don't know whether the Krupps portrait was shot on 5"x4", but as Ellis says, what does it matter?
Ok I'll bite... I really love Mapplethorpe's portraits of Isabella Rossellini and Sandra Bernhardt, although I'm not sure exactly what format was employed.
Horst P. Horst! I think he worked in lf(?)
Paul Strand's portrait of Susan Thompson standing in the kitchen with her apron on.
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