Sarah

[toosuto]

I finally met Sarah in person this summer when I got to take her portrait: up till then I’d gotten to know her as a very active and participant in the online community comprised by my friends in Denver. She is intelligent and funny and uses her brain in a way that makes me embarrassed that I don’t: she has a very active intellectual life that she writes about consistently while I struggle to even write the most basic descriptions of my subjects. Then again maybe that’s why I like photographs better: I feel more well versed in their language than the written word. I look forward to her feedback about her portrait and the discussion that could follow. I know she’s asked several times in comments about my subjects responses to their portraits this seems like a good time to ask you (who are reading this and have had their photos published so far) what have your responses been? I know that several people have been hesitant to participate and that I used social capital and peer pressure as bludgeons to get participation (maybe once or twice anyway). Have your portraits allowed you to see yourself differently? Ultimately I hope to have folks more comfortable with the idea of being photographed: even after I show people the collection I still hear that “while those are all wonderful surely you don’t want my photograph…”

Originally published at Josh Smith Photography. Please leave any comments there.