Frozen frames

Borrowing words from Jean-Paul Sartre, “The photograph leaves me so unaffected that I do not even form an image.”* That’s the challenge—in a world of image abundance—to create photos of meaning.

The philosophical foundation of my portrait photography is rooted in the seminal works of Sontag, Barthes and Flusser. Basically, photographs should say something. And when a photo speaks, your audience answers.

Really, the goal of most creative content is to start a conversation with somebody to fulfil a purpose. Spark curiosity; awaken something; convey a message. A portrait or profile pictures shouldn’t be treated any differently.

* This quote was taken from Roland Barthes’ Camera Lucida, the original quote from Sartre’s The psychology of imagination isn’t quite so succinct:  “the photograph leaves me so unaffected that I do not even form an image. The photograph forms but a vague object and the persons depicted in it are well constituted as persons, but simply because of their resemblance to human beings, without any particular intentionality.” It is this intentionality we must focus on when creating images.