And then there is Jim. When I got my very first 35mm SLR (which I still have BTW) he would tolerantly let me “take pictures” of him anytime anywhere! Early morning even before coffee (yikes!) or, more formally, as I attempted to practice the finer points of portraiture.
As well as having almost infinite patience for these artistic quirks, Jim was a very handsome guy, – it was impossible to take a bad photo of him. For years I mistakenly attributed all those good photos of him to my emerging photographic talent, and I coasted on this grand deception for ages until, over time I actually did become a pretty good photographer. (And it wasn’t till much later a portrait pro pointed out the various flaws in my subsequent portrait photos, that I came to know the embarrassing truth – my early success was a fluke and the beauty was all Jim and not me.)
There’s more to life than photography though, and my patient subject and I eventually went our separate ways. But in the ensuing years there was never another person as willing to indulge my whims for creative spontaneity, so I did not improve my skills in photographing people. I did however find an abundance of other “good natured” subjects in the great outdoors. And nature photographer I am to this day.
Yes, Jim’s is a complicated legacy, but if I ran into him tomorrow the first thing I would do is snap his photo! (well maybe not the very first thing!)
leslie says
You should call your model up and get him to sit for you now. With all what all you know now think what a great session it would be. Its never to late to be a portrat photographer.
alex says
It’s an Intriguing idea, but I don’t think so…I thought we might have met up a few years ago but he didn’t take me up on the invite, I guess he was not into a reunion of any kind. I took the hint!
I love your work, that kind of portraiture I COULD be convinced to try. Do you do workshops of any kind?