Читать книгу The Art Within Portrait Photography: A Master Photographer's Revealing and Enlightening Look at Portraiture - Klaus Bohn - Страница 16

The Graduate

Over the years I have photographed many grads from all over Saskatchewan, the rest of Canada and the United States. I like oversized heads, especially when I produce grad or high school senior photographs with this unusual style. I have been criticized by other professional photographers who comment, “How can you make photos so large, bigger than life size?” My response to this question has always been, “How can you make photographs with head sizes smaller than life size?” Distortion has always been there in paintings as well as the other arts including photography. It is really a matter of proper viewing distance from the image. Study old paintings and you will be surprised how large some of the paintings were!

The largest grad photos sold in my studio were 40 by 50 inches and we sold quite a few over the years but a more popular size was 30 by 40 inches like the image on the opposite page. I am a professional photographer as well as a good salesman believing in my product and what I am able to accomplish for the client. The expression in her eyes compliments her lips and creates a pleasing image from the right viewing distance. It is important to not make the mistake of having one’s client smile too forcefully as it tends to distort the face making the eyes smaller and hence very uncomplimentary.

Have you ever wondered why there were fewer smiles in paintings years ago? They refer to da Vinci’s Mona Lisa as the smiling Mona Lisa. If you have been to the Louvre in Paris and viewed the painting you couldn’t say that she was smiling, not ear to ear like so many grads photographed by school photographers.

My system of photographing grads was no different than my regular photography. A consultation was a must and so was a projection a day or so following the photo session to review the images. I would accomplish all three in one day for students from out of town. We had a number of loyal and energetic employees to help during these busy times but I always did all the consultations, sessions and projections myself.

The image you see was mounted on canvas as were a lot of my photographs at that time. My brother Brian operated the framing and mounting part of the business as it took skill to produce a good canvas.

What a privilege to influence young lives as well as their parents to appreciate photography in completely different ways.