How to create a portrait that will stand the test of time

I was browsing the Guardian website recently and an article caught my eye. This piece was answering the question of why people didn’t smile as much in old photographs.

It’s interesting actually, that before this headline was put before me I hadn’t really given much thought as to any expression given in old photographs. But once you have the thought in your head, it’s pretty stuck there.

Now every old photograph I see I can’t help but notice the glum expression on people’s faces. It would appear that smiling is quite a modern invention.

But the piece does raise an interesting point. There is a real difference between the pictures we take of ourselves and the photographic portraits of the last century. If we want to capture a photograph and a memory that will stand the test of time, which way should we turn?

We are living in the age of the selfie

It’s true that we live in an age of the selfie. How can we even compare the photography of last century with the photography of today? It is a well established fact that we now take more pictures than ever.

A conservative estimate suggests that ten per cent of all of the pictures ever taken, were taken in the last 12 months. It is even suggested by Jaron Schneider of ResourceMagOnline that in 2015 we will end up taking 1 trillion photographs. Just think about the sheer scale of that for a minute.

That’s 1,000,000,000,000 pictures.

The problem, as quite rightly pointed out in the Guardian article is that so many of them are disposable. They capture only a split second of existence, rather than tell a compelling story of a time and place.

The quality versus quantity dilemma

In my view, what we have lost with the ease and availability of photography is quality. I’m not talking about technical quality, because as time goes on, technology only becomes more advance. The technical quality of picture that people take will only increase over time.

What is missing in more photographs is the artistic quality.

Historically the first photographs replaced the oil painting as a cheaper and more cost effective way to capture a portrait. They were pieces of art, taken very seriously and considered to be a timeless record of a human life. Clearly the way we see photography now is very different, less timeless, and much, much more fleeting.

Our photographs are more disposable now, but perhaps that is because they have become an extension of our online digital selves, which is more likely to share small candid updates of our existence, than one substantial record. As Dr Sarah Gervais wrote in Psychology today about photo sharing site Instagram, “We capture of glimpse into the makings of people’s daily lives. We get a sense of those things that make the everyday extraordinary”

So what is an extraordinary picture now?

What I’ve described above really is two extremes. One side of the coin being photography that captures timeless memories, the other quick snaps of personality. But it is possible to get both a timeless and moving picture, paired with something that shows life and humour?

In my view that job of the modern professional photographer is now, in part, to straddle these two extremes of photography. On the one hand to capture the true personality of an individual that often comes through from our candid selfies.

On the other hand, people hire professional photographers to capture something exceptional, something that will be a treasured memory for a very long time. One of the real pleasures I have working as a portrait photographer is capturing family moments and memories that I know will take pride of place on someone’s wall, or in a cherished photo album.

Perhaps because of the way we use technology the way that we as individuals take day-to-day photographs has indeed changed. However, when it comes to creating a moving, artistic and truly outstanding portrait photograph, well that in my view is certainly a job for a professional.