Capturing the essence

Posted by the image smith (Thunder Bay, Canada) on 15 June 2007 in People & Portrait.

There is an interesting story of how Canada’s great portrait photographer, Yousuf Karsh, captured the essence of Sir Winston Churchill. Having only a couple of minutes to photograph Churchill, Karsh set up the lights before hand and had every thing ready.

Then in came Churchill. Karsh positioned Churchill and set up the camera’s focus.

In a moment of sheer brilliance, Karsh walked up to Churchill and yanked the cigar out of his mouth. The result is one of the best-known portraits of that great leader glaring out at the viewer. The following shoot is of the same pose, but Churchill, realizing the brilliance, has a big laughing smile on his face.

This shot has a similar story. I was setting up to take my mother-in-law’s picture when I noticed she was awkwardly holding her sunglasses. I walked up to her and took them from her hand, then proceeded to toss them on the lawn. The result of tossing her $100 sunglasses on the lawn is this picture – I think I did an all right job capturing her essence!

VFXY Photos