Paul Graham Television Portraits

I wonder if my selection of portrait photographers for review listed in my previous post – Dijkstra, Avedon, Struth et al – is setting me down a track for my Ironman portraits which is predetermined. Most of these photographers have adopted a strictly formal approach to their portrait series – same pose, same crop, similar or same background, same orientation to camera etc. I am thinking that I should keep my options more open at this stage and look at a wider range of approaches.

Looking at British photographer Paul Graham’s ‘Television Portraits’ work has given me food for thought. Whilst the context for the photographs are the same i.e. people watching the TV, the framing cropping and poses vary. This adds variety and interest but does not take away the ability to compare across the photographs. Indeed the way in which people respond to the TV is more strongly illustrated with this approach. Graham’s portraits can be viewed on his website here.