Portraiture

Portraiture typically involves the human face in eye contact with the camera/viewer. Not always, of course, and portraits can reveal a great deal about the subject through down-turned or closed eyes - or even a rear view. From the earliest depictions of people in classical paintings and drawings, the custom has been to emphasize clothes and possessions as indications of status, occupation or culture, and the context is also rich in information. All over the world, people take portraits of family and friends in settings, which remind us of that moment, and valued portraits highlight expressions, postures and poses and fix the character of the subjects – focusing on the face, “the window on the soul.”