I have just made a self portrait to be included in the ‘I am an Ironman’ series. It is interesting making self portraits. One puts oneself in the position of the subject, so that all the uncertainties that this entails are experienced personally by the photographer.
My subjects often ask me what I want them to do….I generally answer just act naturally but don’t smile. It seems that a smile relegates a photograph to the realms of the ‘snapshot’ rather than a serious photograph. The issue here is I believe one of attempting to photograph people without them putting on a front or pose so that the real person is revealed. Personally, I think that the only way to do this is through candid photography and then all you get is the ‘real’ surface. All posed portraits must entail an element of posing by the subject.
I understand that Richard Avedon used to be very confrontational with his subjects. His use of a plain background and frontal poses is in its nature confrontational – seems like I have adopted the same formal approach. Avedon apparently did not converse with his subjects – he used to stand without speaking, staring at them. On occasions he would say something to knock his subjects off balance. My approach is to try to put my subjects at ease but at the same time try to maintain some distance. This is a difficult skill to learn – I am still learning.
When posing for the self portrait I tried to concentrate on looking into the camera and remaining relaxed….here is the result.
Keith Greenough, UK, Ironman Triathlete, M60-64
photo-graph 
guy maxwell
March 22, 2013
First, I like the portrait, it is a good likeness; though it lacks the spark that I saw in you when we met, perhaps its just the “non-smile” look.
I like the use of the glasses on head as a device, it is so typical of so many runners.
I’m not sure why the camera was included in the picture. I does tie you as the photographer with you as the runner/tri-guy, but it seems a bit out of place.
I think the image would benefit from a wee bit more space above, but that’s my personal thing.
Reading elsewhere in this BLOG that you intended this to be after some sort of training exercise I expected to find you with sweat stains on chest, neck, and arm pits along with some element of road debris. The lack doesn’t make the image “inauthentic”, but it wasn’t what I expected. Though the look does fit in with the feel of the other “I am an Ironman” portraits.
Overall, an authentic un-selfconcious look. Well done!
Keith Greenough
March 22, 2013
Thanks for the comment and the well done!….you are right about the camera it is out of place…this was an experimental shot which I didn’t use in the end for my series….In fact I decided not to include myself in the series with the other triathletes. I made a separate set of self portraits with the shots taken after I had been exercising. In fact I had not been exercising before i made this one.
I think I might have liked a bit more space at the top of the photographs too but I was shooting in all sorts of different places. In some cases the ceiling was very low. Other times I had very little space between me and the subject….I wanted to keep them to the 2/3 length and also wanted to use the 80mm on my Hasselblad (to avoid any distortion from a wide angle lens). So if I was going to make them all the same the compromise was to use all of the frame….
Other folks have also commented that in some of the portraits after exercising I don’t look tired,sweaty etc….this is interesting because I looked as I looked. In some cases when exercising out on the bike in cold weather you don’t get too sweaty…just cold. In other cases the exercise routine was a yoga/stretching routine…again not so much sweat….
I’ve thought a lot about just what I am looking for in a pose. I think I know what I don’t want and that is someone putting on an act. I am trying to catch people at a moment when their guard has dropped and they are no longer self consciously posing. Of course what remains is still a pose but not a deliberate ‘theatrical’ one. When I catch people at a moment like this it is often very difficult to read their expression. I think this makes a portrait interesting (and a bit mysterious)….