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  1. #1

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    Crazy Horse on the subject of portrait photography

    "My friend, why should you wish to shorten my life by taking from me my shadow? (To photographer Dr. Valentine T. McGillycuddy.)" ~ Crazy Horse
    "I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority"---EB White

  2. #2
    Drew Wiley
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    Re: Crazy Horse on the subject of portrait photography

    The idea of "stealing one's spirit" by taking their picture has been revived by some neo wannabee Indians. I know one of them. How much this concept applied to historic Indians is questionable; but there were certain known cases - not any in our own neighborhood I can recall, however. Three of the people illustrated in "Almost Ancestors - Earliest Pictures of California Indians", I knew personally. Of course, they were little children when those pictures were taken, and old when I knew them. But camera-shyness was apparently not a feature of native Calif. tribes or the West in general. It's possible that the ghost dance cult factored into its rise in some places like the Great Plains.

  3. #3
    Tin Can's Avatar
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    Re: Crazy Horse on the subject of portrait photography

    No body really wants a picture taken

    Wanted posters do shorten a life
    Tin Can

  4. #4

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    Re: Crazy Horse on the subject of portrait photography

    Quote Originally Posted by Tin Can View Post
    No body really wants a picture taken

    Wanted posters do shorten a life
    Uhhhh...what about all folks falling off of cliffs while taking selfies?
    "I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority"---EB White

  5. #5

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    Re: Crazy Horse on the subject of portrait photography

    I had some excellent on the job training from the photographer Damien Waring in Honolulu. He was British and began his career in London, then had a studio in Hollywood for years before moving to Hawaii. He told me to never use the expression "take your photo" because of the negative connotation of the word take. Say "Make your portrait". Also never use the word "shoot" in any context related to the photography.

  6. #6
    Tin Can's Avatar
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    Re: Crazy Horse on the subject of portrait photography

    Good advice

    I will adjust my patter

    I don’t even like writing the S word as it must be a key word for AI readers
    Tin Can

  7. #7
    Joe O'Hara's Avatar
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    Re: Crazy Horse on the subject of portrait photography

    Quote Originally Posted by Neal Chaves View Post
    I had some excellent on the job training from the photographer Damien Waring in Honolulu. He was British and began his career in London, then had a studio in Hollywood for years before moving to Hawaii. He told me to never use the expression "take your photo" because of the negative connotation of the word take. Say "Make your portrait". Also never use the word "shoot" in any context related to the photography.
    Very much agreed.

    When I want to "go shooting", I take one of my guns to the range and make holes in paper targets (or rarely, aged laptops).

    When I go out with my camera, I am "photographing", which is the act of "making pictures".

    I have always thought the conventional ways of speaking about photography trivialize it, and reinforce the view that
    photography can be at best only a second-rate art. That has always annoyed me.

    That said, I sympathize with those who prefer that their portraits not be made. I have always felt that
    there was at least a potential invasion of privacy involved. Now of course, I realize that good photographers
    respect the subject, and that the subject may well enjoy and desire the process, and that the result may
    be very valuable for them and others. (Thinking about certain photographs of my grandparents, for instance.)
    It's just that it's not for me (on either side of the camera).

    I'm not worried about the light that reflected off of me, unlike poor Crazy Horse. Those photons are gone
    forever, no harm done if a few are absorbed in some silver atoms.
    Where are we going?
    And why are we in this handbasket?


    www.josephoharaphotography.com

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