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A few choice tidbits from hither and yon—

Regarding the Fuji XF 35mm ƒ/1.4, Albert Smith provided this link to some work shot by Alessandro Michelazzi with the lens on an X-Pro2. Fine work and lenticularly supercalafragilistic. One wee cavil, though: those are not portraits. That's a model modeling. I would call it fashion/editorial. Pretty ironic I should say this right now, eh? Given that just the other day I was grousing about pigeonholing pictures into categories. Still, portraits those are not.

Clayton found the real winning cellphone contest shot. Shoephones rock?

Alan Berkson suggests two modern hand-colorists: Kate Breakey and Brigitte Carnochan. I would love to see a real print or two...I suspect JPEGs are approximate renditions only where these two photographers are concerned.

Mike
(Thanks to Albert, Clayton, and Alan)

Book of the Week

The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk M.D. "Trauma is a fact of life. Veterans and their families deal with the painful aftermath of combat; one in five Americans has been molested; one in four grew up with alcoholics; one in three couples have engaged in physical violence." A tough slog of a read, but full of revelations. And it reviews many strategies, both conventional and alternative, toward relief and healing.

This is a link to Amazon from TOP. The following logo is also a link:

Original contents copyright 2020 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Albert Smith: "Finally, a cellphone photo with sole!"

hugh crawford: "Probably any discussion of hand colored photographs should at least mention Edi Baskin who did the portraits for Saturday Night Live from very near the beginning until 1999."

Mike replies: Wasn't it spelled "Edie"?

Comments

[Daniel]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDzStvqUzG8

I know this photographer was getting a Fuji for some of his work. No matter the camera - these are excellent. Portugal Rural - the images do a good job.

[James Meeks]

An art museum where I used to work had a photograph by Holly Roberts - https://hollyrobertsstudio.com/, probably from the 80's or early 90's. Her older works have opaque oil paint applied and scraped back to the photo. Sort of an extreme example of hand coloring.

[Rick Popham]

As I recall from an issue of Lenswork a few years ago, Bridgette Carnochan also does nice work in platinum/palladium.

[Tom Burke]

On the subject of colouring old monochrome images, did you ever see Peter Jackson’s reprocessed, colourised footage from WWI? It’s amazing, and it brings it alive - these were real men, not just grainy images walking strangely and speaking silently. An extraordinary achievement. Not exactly ‘hand-coloured’, I’ll grant you, but it springs from the same impetus. It’s a complete documentary: “They shall not grow old”. It got a lot of coverage when it was broadcast here in the UK.

[John Camp]

How do you know that's a model? Could be his sister arriving for a family gathering. Just like with my family.

[marcin wuu]

Oh my. As a portraitist I'd really, really love to learn what's your take on what a portrait is or isn't, Mike.

[Arne Croell]

That kid will be the new Maxwell Smart!

[BH]

The Body Keeps the Score is pretty phenomenal, if you're interested in the subject matter.

And you're going to think I'm crazy, but if you're interested in tapping into the reptilian brain, Wim Hof's breathing technique is pretty amazing. I know, I know... the guy is kind of a nut. But do four "rounds" of the breathing technique and see for yourself.

[Will]

I read your commentary and thought, with half of an eye roll, that you were being quite persnickety in narrowing the definition of portraiture. But no, the work definitely belongs in a different genre.

For what it’s worth, I don’t think the use of *a model* necessarily disqualifies work from being portraiture. I’ve seen work with models (instead of with friends, families, or normal-person clients) that is definitely portraiture.

Unfortunately this has put me into an ontological tailspin. On what basis am I disqualifying the work? Intent? If I were to define portraiture I would do so in formal terms, and intent wouldn’t enter into it, so that isn’t a satisfying answer. Other candidates for disqualification (the poses or attire of the model, for example) are equally shallow explanations. I’d like to understand how I’m drawing this distinction. The last thing I want is to pull a Potter Stewart cop-out.

I’d maybe satisfy myself by conceding that you cannot make portraiture with a model, that what I’ve seen is a very good facsimile of portraiture instead. But now I’m in the rabbit hole and that doesn’t quite cut it either.

How do *you* define portraiture?

[Ernest Zarate]

I’m so sorry Mike. The love you each have for one another is boundless. I’m sure Lulu cherishes it as much as you do. I’m looking at my little dog, Gigi, right now. The love of, and from, a dog is priceless. I wish you peace as you go through this.

[richardp-london]

On the classification front - can we even safely distinguish 'posed' from 'candid' portraiture? Certainly being posed is no bar. And anyone who has been specially posed for a photograph, is at least in that sense its 'model'.

Perhaps it becomes a portrait when some wider interest or value is ascribed to this person over and above what's seen of them in the photo? For example, if commissioned to accompany a feature article about that person. But many fine photographic portraits (as we now see them) were originally commissioned with 'editorial' or 'fashion' usage in mind, so I don't think that intent can be our measure either.

Got it! a 'portrait' is anything taller than it is wide. Does that help? (grin)