...It's that portraits have more or less gone away. At least in my little corner of existence. Portraits used to be a mainstream thing—understood even by the general public as one of the basic purposes of photography, a major category of subject matter, the subject of books and exhibitions, and something that photographers big and little could sell and that normal people routinely hired photographers to do for them.
It used to be that if you offered to do a portrait for free, it was welcomed as something of value. Now if I offer to do a portrait for free it's more often looked upon with puzzlement, if not something less welcome, as if to say, "Why would I need you for a portrait?" If you ask an acquaintance or a stranger to pose or model for you, young women (if you're a man) as often as not assume you're being lecherous and parents of children are as apt as not to view you with suspicion. (Maybe part of the difference is that I used to be a handsome athletic young man and now I'm an older man. Another part of the problem is that I'm an introvert and have difficulty putting people at ease, although I'm certainly not averse to engaging strangers in conversation.)
There might be another factor that hasn't changed since the old days but might have gotten worse—people are worried about how they'll look. It's not like this is new; people were shy and reticent about having their picture taken the whole time I've been doing it. But with today's pitilessly sharp lenses and resolution that's greater than that of the human eye, sometimes it's like a photo of yourself was calculated to make you look as bad as possible. People are leery. And have grown more so IMO.
(I'm especially amused when gearheads online ask the question "what's the best portrait lens?" and everyone proceeds to discuss the sharpest, most corrected lenses. Hmm. They haven't looked at a sufficient amount of successful and beautiful portraits from the past. Sometimes extreme sharpness works in a portrait—Karsh, for example—but more often it's a liability. During the peak era of photographic portraiture, photographers fanatically sought out lenses and techniques that gave just the right degree and type of softness.)
This is my great-aunt Christine Love Johnston, my father's father's sister, who died (like a rock star) at age 27 in 1922. We don't know why or how; her story is now lost as far as I know. Note the balanced and well-judge unsharpness—that was by design, not because of technology limitations at the time. She would have gone to a photographer's studio and commissioned this portrait, or her mother Lucy did. The photographer would have been a portrait specialist or at least a photographer who did portraits often. It had to have been taken in the nineteen-teens or early '20s. She would have dressed nicely—note her beautiful hair—and he would have had a studio setup all worked out. Such a portrait might have been a middle-class or better convention, but it was certainly a common thing to have done then.
And it wasn't only photographs. My grandfather had his portrait painted. When I was young I sat for an artist who made a portrait of me in pastels. Now lost.
Portraits—photographic ones—were something I was good at and liked doing. At the peak of my photo business I got $675 for a sitting and $100 per print, and that was in the late 1980s and early '90s—get out your inflation calculator! Good money for a schlub. I still do a portrait from time to time, and I can't say I work hard at figuring out how to do more. But when I do occasionally try, it usually falls flat. These days, people take their own portraits. Selfies. They also see lots of pictures of themselves taken by others and all they have to do in that case is say, "I like that one! Can you send me that?" Done. Maybe it wouldn't make a print, but who needs prints? Family albums aren't made of paper any more.
I'm not saying all this is bad. More people than ever are taking pictures of their kids and loved ones and having fun with it and often doing quite well at it, too. Look at the title of the post again...the thing I miss. The way it was is just something I miss, is all.
Niches
I wonder what it's like for portrait "collectors." By that I mean photographers who deliberately set out to make a body of work of portraits of people who are eminent, interesting, or accomplished in some way, in general or in some specific field. That's one little particular niche of photographing. Recently, most people who do that try to create an archive of "celebrities," which has a specific circumscribed meaning in contemporary culture, meaning mainly actors, singers and athletes—"stars." There's no real definition of "stars" but we all kind of know who is and who isn't. That's only a subset of prominent people, of course. Any of the great portrait photographers you might name have a certain sort of person they sought out to photograph—rock stars, the rich, politicians, scientists. Photojournalists might accrue a body of portraits of people who do something newsworthy. One subset-within-a-subset I've always been interested is people who photograph photographers! My friend Arnold Crane was one of those, although he's not known now. So was Bill Jay, who was always self-deprecating about his own work but who created a fine lifetime project of photographer portraits. Of course you could photograph interesting people in any field and it would be interesting to somebody. Writers, physicists, artists, socialites, dancers, inventors, tech bros, race car drivers, rock climbers. Could be anything really. Heck, Robert Bergman, one of the rare true "colorists" in my opinion, created his body of work making portraits of homeless people! Time was when a great portrait photographer might seek out someone famous and request their cooperation to make a portrait of them. It usually worked because the famous person was aware of the value of cultivating their "brand" (as the common parlance puts it), and the photographer was interested in cultivating their portfolio, so a kind of symbiosis of interests applied. Are photographers still doing that? They must be, but I don't really know.
There's no celebrity like a niche celebrity. I recall a physics professor who went to a big international conference. He described it to us by saying it was like all the very biggest celebrities in the world were gathered in one place. All the biggest names. His excitement was off the charts. Of course they were nobody you or I would have heard of, but to him they were as famous and dazzling as Taylor Swift to a tween girl.
If you were a portrait photographer and wanted to create a body of work of some group of people or other, who would they be? What kind or type of people most interests you?
Mike
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At our County Courthouse portraits of the judges are displayed in the lobby. BW photographs starting in the last decades of the 19th century, and a few oil paintings before that. Color photos start appearing in the 1970s and 1980s. Some of the 20th century portraits appear to have been taken by newspaper photographers. A handful are in the Olan Mills style. All stern-faced men until the late 1980s. The most recent portraits are of smiling judges. Jury duty gave me the opportunity to check these out.
Posted by: Mark B | Wednesday, 27 August 2025 at 11:03 AM
Regarding portraits, I think when you're talking "the film era" versus now, your talking about the use of cell phones and the ubiquitous "selfie", which is probably what most people born after 2000 know as a portrait.
This sets the bar low if trying to impress someone. They've never not see wide-angle distortion with exaggerated nose to ears proportions. They've never seen eye-popping selective focus. And nice lighting controlled by the photographer will beat the typical bathroom mirror shots they seem to gravitate to.
It might be harder to get someone to sit for a proper portrait, but you should have no problem getting a result that stuns the person being photographed.
Posted by: Albert Smith | Wednesday, 27 August 2025 at 11:03 AM
How directly Christine Love Johnston looks like you!
Posted by: Blind Paperboy | Wednesday, 27 August 2025 at 11:25 AM
Maybe it could work the other way round - stardom to the people: be like a traditional official photographer and tell your clients you can make them look like a celebrity in that e.g. Martin Schoeller style... Anybody can use a smartphone, even with AI, but how would the result look like in that oversized print? Maybe one could even sell a subscription on that: taking a portrait every x years and be one´s personal Nick Nixon... Surely you need a clientele who apreciates personal fine art photographic portraits instead of former painted ones...
Posted by: Dierk | Wednesday, 27 August 2025 at 11:46 AM
Consider switching to paint? Wealthy families and institutions continue to commission portraits in oil. But portrait photography? Not so valued any more. Not amid the current deluge of snaps and selfie, and when there's an expert photographer in everyone's phone. I think it's nearly impossible these days to shoot an out-of-focus selfie. Are picture days in K-12 schools even still a thing? Where they bring in a pro to take everyone's portrait as well as class photos, and sell prints to parents? I'm pretty sure my earliest school portraits involved dark cloths and dark slides.
How's this for a portrait project? All the people who were involved in making my current iPhone: designers, accountants, engineers, miners, refiners, factory workers, testers, shippers, etc. etc., all the way up to the previous owner(s) (I bought it used). Yes, even Tim Cook. I think it would be a surprisingly large number of people.
But here's a more worthy portrait project that I know of and admire, involving victims of gun violence: https://www.soulsshotportraitproject.org
Posted by: robert e | Wednesday, 27 August 2025 at 12:43 PM
I can only dream of charging over $600 US for a portrait. If I can equate theatre headshots with portraits than I have shot hundreds of them over the last 15 years (earning substantially less than $600 per), but it is something that I enjoy doing and hopefully can continue doing.
Posted by: Sherwood McLernon | Wednesday, 27 August 2025 at 12:48 PM
You know, I hadn't thought about the disappearance of portraits. Partly because there are still some big public portraits done, and those get the news. And I do have friends that continue to get yearly portraits shot with their children. I even see current photographers including portraits in the portfolios on their web sites.
But yeah, despite these visible examples of portraits still existing, pretty sure you're right that the numnber has vastly decreased.
Posted by: David Dyer-Bennet | Wednesday, 27 August 2025 at 01:12 PM
I absolutely disagree with your premise that portraits have gone away. I've stayed busy all through August doing portraits. Lots of portraits. For friends, for clients, for strangers, for actors, for business people and for myself. I live in a city filled with people who seem to be happy to have their portraits taken. You can still make a living taking portraits. You just need a few things. A city with lots of people who are well educated and well paid. A really nice portfolio, online, of portraits you can share. A big, strong community that's an endless source of referrals. A bright and welcoming aspect. I find the more I do the more I get. The daily practice of doing the work leads to more work. Last point, it has to be work that resonates with the demographic you are aiming at. Presentation of self and of that work is critical to successfully getting people to collaborate with you.
If your friends won't sit for you....get new friends.
Posted by: Kirk | Wednesday, 27 August 2025 at 01:24 PM
I've been on lots of photo tours with a local pro. Half a dozen people, or so, and the tours usually have a theme. Birds, or foothills landscapes, or night skies, or places in town the public typically can't go, or small town Saskatchewan, or something interesting. Often I can get out of the van, see the intended object of the stop, get "the photo" that everybody else gets, then I usually have time to find the interesting (to me at least) photo that nobody else gets, which explains why I'm sometimes the last one back in the van and was pointing my camera in the opposite direction of everybody else. But the fun thing on the tours, or at events, is catching other photographers at work. Usually I learn something, how they approach the subject, or indeed that a particular subject could be interesting. I look for, and strive to catch, "portrait-like photos" if you'll permit that usage, taken of people busy with the event and while they know I'm there doing event photography, are not aware they are the subject. Parents and kids of all ages can often make for a lovely photo moment. If I were a portrait photographer looking to create a body of work (a term I have problems with) I'd look at posing other photographers in their working setting.
Posted by: Keith | Wednesday, 27 August 2025 at 01:37 PM
I used occasionally do portraits, or more accurately, head shots. Quick things for local politicians. I recently stopped, because I have a friend who can barely afford rent who does them, so I told all my "free" customers they needed to call her. Over sharpness is always an issue with a modern digital set-up.
One of my favorite images, more of a candid, is of my daughter reading Manga, shot with the Olympus 420 and an old Zuiko 50 1.4 manual lens, kind of hazy wide open.
Posted by: John Krumm | Wednesday, 27 August 2025 at 01:38 PM
When I was in high school (mid 1960's) going to a studio and getting a formal portrait taken was a rite of passage. That is probably no longer the case but on some level Shane Balkowiscz seems to have cracked the code.
He is doing very nice work up in Bismarck, my hometown which tickles me no end
I think his portraiture is first rate and being a wet plate collodian photographer is about as old school as you get
https://www.nostalgicglasswetplatestudio.com/
Posted by: Mike Plews | Wednesday, 27 August 2025 at 02:41 PM
Unrelated, take care of your archive fast. Typepad is shutting down in a month.
https://everything.typepad.com/blog/2025/08/typepad-is-shutting-down.html
Posted by: jb | Wednesday, 27 August 2025 at 02:58 PM
A number of years ago I embarked on a personnel project doing environmental portraits of local artists and entertainers. (At the time, local was Peoria, Illinois.) For the project to make sense, I also started a website to post the portraits along with a short write-up about the artist. It lasted a few years and I ended up with a collection of over 80 images on the website. I think the thing I really liked was that it reminded me of my youthful years spent as a staff photographer at a small daily newspaper; I'd go out on assignment with a minimum of direction and figure it out on the fly. I also gave each subject an 11X14 print of their photo. The website is still online at https://playingpeoria.wordpress.com/. Personally, I like some the early work best.
Posted by: Craig Stocks | Wednesday, 27 August 2025 at 03:18 PM
Christine was a handsome woman with a bold, questioning gaze: such a shame about her left arm, though. War wound?
Posted by: Mike Chisholm | Wednesday, 27 August 2025 at 03:33 PM
It never really got off the ground. But as a building contractor and home owner, I’ve met a lot of tradesmen and women over the years. Plumbers, roofers, HVAC techs, appliance installers and repairmen, concrete foremen and workers, carpenters, steel workers, cabinet builders, architectural molding manufacturers, crane operators, excavators, roll-off container drivers, home entertainment system installers, window treatment designers, endless countermen, dozens of supply yard workers and gate attendants, lots of carpenters, painters, wall paper hangers, architects, site supervisors, mirror mechanics, drywall hangers and drywall finishers, electricians, and dozens of carpenters. I’ve wanted to photograph them all, everyone who came through a job or goes through my home to do some work. No “stars,” but a hellava lot of characters. Sadly, it’s not happened, beyond a couple of tolerant... carpenters.
Posted by: Kent Wiley | Wednesday, 27 August 2025 at 04:04 PM
I began photographing people consistently in 2013 seeking new subjects to augment my professional landscape work. Working with people, I don’t need to travel; I’m lucky to live in a community with some very interesting people (don’t we all?). I describe my growing collection as “environmental portraits” and use work or home locations familiar to the subject because it sets them at ease and a rich environment helps to flesh out the personality of the subject. I seek out common people who do interesting things avoiding the spectacular in hopes of communicating a universal aspect of our life and times.
I work with no intended purpose for these images other than to give a printed copy to the person, and post it on my website and social media. The value I find in this endeavor is that it enriches my social life, get to know folks a little better, and it keeps my photographic skills honed.
One happy unintended consequence of this collection is a 2016 book I had published by Chatwin books: "Coffee and Community – The Vashon Island Coffee Roasterie in Words and Photos" featuring the staff and regulars of a spot about a mile from my home. So I guess you can’t always know why we do things, the important thing is to do them.
Posted by: Terry Donnelly | Wednesday, 27 August 2025 at 04:51 PM
You are a dead ringer for your Aunt Christine, as I'm sure others will post.
I honestly thought it was going to be revealed in the post as an AI creation of you as a young woman in the 1800s.
I've stumbled across the perfect way for me to get a film result from a digital camera. Without processing trickery. Google K&F Black Mist 1/8 filter. It's... well, it's like genuine magic.
And for video, it's even better. Makes people and light render with a subtle tenderness like you see with your own eyes, rather than the analytical gaze of a camera.
Posted by: Kye Wood | Wednesday, 27 August 2025 at 05:38 PM
Time was, when a cold drink was such a luxury. Making things cold in summer required ice to be transferred from one of the Poles, across the ocean. Then came refrigeration. And a cold drink was no longer a 'thing'.
We're well past portraits no longer being a luxury 'thing'. The undiscerning (meant with kindness) wouldn't know a great portrait if it came to life and chased them around the dining room with an axe.
Irony abounds though, because these days, the simplest things of all are the greatest luxuries - clean air, untouched nature and some time to soak them in.
Posted by: Kye Wood | Wednesday, 27 August 2025 at 05:52 PM
If you include selfies, the portrait may well be one of the most popular types of photography today. No doubt formal portraiture is in steep decline, at least formal studio portraiture. Then again, I see portrait work from contemporary photographers every day that just blows me away (my teenage son included, who simply dabbles in photography while hanging out with his friends).
As a single anecdote, I have done several paid portrait sessions this month, eight portraits this week (and it is only Wednesday). But that is unusual for me, I don’t do portraits very often… And no way could I charge the prices you were charging in the 80s; I would be over the moon if I could ask for half as much!
Posted by: Aaron | Wednesday, 27 August 2025 at 07:12 PM
On the wall of the meeting room of our volunteer fire company we have portraits of all of our chiefs dating back to 1904. The earliest were clearly professionally done photos with a warm tone and a heavy oval vignetting. The most recent were equally obviously taken in a hurry with a digital camera. They are tack sharp but taken against a brick wall that clearly shows the barrel distortion of the zoom lens. It's sad really.
Posted by: Doug Anderson | Wednesday, 27 August 2025 at 09:09 PM
I'm planning on doing a series of 4x5 silhouettes of my family in colour. We have lovely natural light which comes in the window and plays against a semi-translucent blind.
I don't think portraiture is gone.
Posted by: Nigli | Thursday, 28 August 2025 at 04:39 AM
There used to be photo studio store fronts all over, including in some department stores, but I can't remember the last time I saw one anywhere. I don't personally know anyone that has had formal portraits done, other than perhaps kids' school photos.
Posted by: Robert Roaldi | Thursday, 28 August 2025 at 06:45 AM
It would have to be people with a few years behind them for me, Mike. The obvious ones are movie actors (a word that covers both male and female these days), rock and roll stars, or politicians - but only if they had left office and were free to give the backstory on events. Yes, probably politicians: what stores they could tell.
Writing of backstories, editorial photographer Harry Borden has a YouTube channel where he discusses (with son, Fred) his photographic life over many years. I think you will find its interesting.
https://www.youtube.com/@fredandharryborden/videos
Posted by: Mike | Thursday, 28 August 2025 at 07:01 AM
According to her Indiana death certificate, Christine Love Johnston died in Indianapolis, June 28, 1922 of septicemia, as a result of peri-nephritic abcess. (Found on Ancestry.com.)
Posted by: John Shriver | Thursday, 28 August 2025 at 07:18 AM
I was a fashion photographer in Boston. I never got to choose my models the client did. But what I enjoyed most was taking pictures of ordinary people in one of Boston’s ghettos.
Bill
Posted by: William Giokas | Thursday, 28 August 2025 at 07:19 AM
Because of some recent mobility issues I have, I have started trying to do more portrait photos rather than being out in the landscape. My recent niche has been dancers and circus performers. They LOVE having their pictures taken, especially to populate their social media pages! I am lucky to have a circus school in Rochester NY where I live. They have been very welcoming. Most "portraits" are photos during a performance, so not really posed but I am starting to make some inroads into getting folks to "sit" for portraits in their circus apparatus.
I also find today's gear is too sharp for a nice face portrait. Softening the face skin can improve the appearance, although some automated tools make things go to plastic. I have been spending a lot of time on developing post-production techniques that work well. Luckily it is not my business, only my avocation, so I can learn / play a lot without the pressure of delivery.
Posted by: Tim Wilson | Thursday, 28 August 2025 at 11:56 AM
So beautiful. Very sad....
What a memorable portrait!
Posted by: Hélcio J. Tagliolatto | Thursday, 28 August 2025 at 06:02 PM