God Light on Green Lake
There is a reason landscape photography is such a popular genre. It’s because people are so hard to shoot.
Portrait photography is down right challenging. The portrait photographer seldom finds all the components to a good picture laid out before them like a breathtaking landscape at sunrise.
Photographing people is a layered process that by definition starts with two people. The photographer and the subject. Each giving up something of themselves in collaboration to create a picture. A dance of sorts where the end goal is capturing the essence and personality of the subject. Often, that give and take can be all consuming. Never really finding, photographically, who that person is.
As daunting as it all can be, the easiest path often times is the simplest. By placing them in the activity they love the photographer is almost guaranteed an authentic reaction that captures the subject perfectly.
If that happens to be an Olympic class rower on Seattle’s Green Lake. Even better. Engaged in their true passion the subject is consumed. Their attention finally distracted. The photographer is given a beautiful gift. An unobstructed window into the essence of who they are.
