I recently spent three days north of Minneapolis in Chisago County working on a project for the New York Times. It was a fun story to work on especially given the fact that I had a few days to complete it and the freedom to explore beyond the assigned portraits. It’s the type of assignment I really love; available light portraits combined with documentary images. Read the story here.
Jenn, that article got a lot of mileage, I’ve seen it shared and linked to all over. The photos added a nice touch and I recognized your name right away (I’ve had this blog in my RSS feed for a while).
If you could, I’d love to hear about some of the decision making process that went into the portraits, how you chose the locations, how much time you spent with the subjects, how you communicate with them, if there were any problems and how you dealt with them, etc. In any case, thanks for sharing these outtakes.
Bennett – Thanks for the note and the kind words. I was given about three days to work on the project which required portraits of five people they had interviewed, documentary images of their lives and a sense of place. In talking to the editor we knew that the people who had been interviewed a couple of weeks beforehand might not be as willing to have their photos taken and as expected one of the main subjects backed out. But as with every assignment or project I work on I am very honest and up front with the people that I photograph. I find that honesty and trust are the most important elements to making good photos. I have to trust them that they are being truthful as I am telling the story that they are telling me and they must trust me that everything I am telling them is true as well. I find this is a great way to protect you and them from exploitation. I reminded them what the story was about and asked if I could come take portraits and photos of them during the day.
For some, I started photographing them right away but for others I would sit down, have a cup of coffee and get to know them for a little bit before photographing them. I find that I usually spend about 1/4 of my time with someone actually photographing, 1/2 talking and another 1/4 just watching them in their environment.
Before a portrait, I always scout for at least an hour so I have a sense of the potential in walking distance. For this project, I knew capturing the feel of small town Minnesota was important to the story so i knew I wanted to incorporate that in the portraits. I tried to incorporate some sense of their personality as well – pride, humility, etc.
Hopefully that answers some questions.
All the best
Jenn
Wonderful insights, thanks. Keep up the great work.