Lately I have been asked by many friends to ‘do’ some portraits for them. I always look upon these situations as an opportunity to practice my skills as a portrait photographer. Although I have to admit it has become pretty time consuming lately. I have decided to post a couple of photographs to this blog to show how my photographic activities extend beyond just my course work.
I never work for money. I simply don’t want to become a ‘professional’ portrait photographer, at least not in the sense of the folk who work out of studios on the high street. To become an artist like Rineke Dijkstra is another matter….I wish!! I guess I am lucky and I have sufficient income from other sources so I am able to take this view. My thoughts on this are coloured by my view that as soon as photography becomes work it is weighed down by negative connotations, which are mostly about being driven to do things which I don’t really want to do.
What I do instead is ask people to make a donation to the Rotary Charity that I support. I have raised close to £1000 in the last year in this way.
Here are a couple of recent photographs. The first is a family portrait of an Indian family I know. They are very colourful.
©Keith Greenough 2013
The second is a portrait of the son of another friend. He was charming and will one day be an actor I am sure. I have seriously edited this photograph to give it a washed out ‘style’ – not sure why…but this is ‘commercial’ or rather ‘charity’ photography….
©Keith Greenough 2013
photo-graph 
vickiuvc
November 24, 2013
Well done you on raising that money. Seriously love the second portrait—it is as you describe his personality. You have captured him well.
Keith Greenough
November 24, 2013
Thanks Vicki..thought you might like the second portrait….it has a kind of fashionista feel to it??
vickiuvc
November 24, 2013
There is that feel; but it’s the way he stands so nonchalantly, as is he challenges the viewer?
Catherine
November 24, 2013
A very charitable idea Keith. I can see your style in both portraits. The second one is poignant somehow. I can imagine him older and as self-assured – reminds me of another of your subjects??
Keith Greenough
November 24, 2013
Well spotted Catherine…he is Chorus’s son.
jsumb
November 24, 2013
Well done on the money raised. Can I ask a picky question? The crop on the young lad is very tight at the feet, was that a purposeful decision and if so can you say why? Of the two the second image opens a discourse – which I think is excellent, much less so for the first one for me.
Keith Greenough
November 25, 2013
Thanks John. The crop on the boy’s feet was part deliberate and part circumstances. I wanted the little lad at the bottom of the frame to emphasise his diminutive size. On the full frame image (the one in this post is cropped at the top) he has lots more headroom. The circumstantial element was that he was walking around on the background paper that I had rolled out onto the floor for a full length shot. He had walked close to edge of the paper at the front…so there wasn’t much space at the bottom of the frame. I have several shots of him most with more clearance at the bottom but I liked this one despite its edginess…
jsumb
November 25, 2013
Thanks Keith, makes sense – do you a number of background tones (I only have white)? I think this whole aesthetic works particularly well.
Keith Greenough
November 25, 2013
Interestingly this was a grey background. I desaturated the image and moved the white balance way over to yellow. I also reduced clarity to give it a soft look and added a bit of grain to soften further…as I said this is a ‘commercial’ shot!!
jsumb
November 25, 2013
Perfect! And how was the photograph received?
Keith Greenough
November 25, 2013
Very well!