“Nice picture, but it's not me.”
We photographers often hear this phrase.
You put everything into it: your empathy, your knowledge of light, of technique, your humanity.
You’re happy because you think you make the person in front of you charming
and… ⚡️pam: “Nice picture, but it’s not me.”
Why does this happen?
Each of us has a firmly created idea of ourselves and seeks confirmation of this idea everywhere: in every photo of ourselves, in the mirror, in the reflection of a shop window we just passed, in the eyes of the person in front of us.
And if we don’t find this idea in the photos,
voilà: “Nice picture, but it’s not me.”
Do we forget that our idea of ourselves is strictly our own?
And that EVERYONE around us has their own, different idea of us?
Everyone sees us differently!
And the photographer will also give his/her own vision.
In fact, when you look for a photographer, choose him/her also based on his/her vision of the world, because he/she will create his/her perception of you.
What does it depend on how closely we want to hold on to our idea of ourselves?
How ready are we to receive new visions of ourselves?
It is directly proportional to our maturity, self-esteem, confidence and openness to be able to find in photographs an unknown person, more beautiful, uglier, more wrinkled, different from that dear idea.
How ready are we to admit that we are also that person portrayed?
My mission, in all my work, is to reveal to people something new: something they didn’t know yesterday, to broaden the possibilities of perception.
A portrait is an incredible medium, if the person is opened to get involved and not just seek confirmation of her own idea.
Uncomfortable? Yes!!
We all have masks that we choose when needed.
For me, the photographer is good when, in the portrait, the mask breaks.
When he shows us the person we don’t know yet and who perhaps doesn’t know himself.
Here are some photographers who have succeeded: Platon, Guido Harari, Antonin Kratochvíl.
