Project: Pose and stance

There are so many different poses that suggest different meanings. The body language can change the feeling of a portrait. The shooting angle, expression, lighting and background all affect the message that is being portrayed in the image. The required message would need to be ascertained before the portrait session is started. Fashion and glamour photography have other ranges of poses, which I don’t intend to use here. What I’m looking for are the poses that work best for the model I’m photographing.

I’ve looked at lots of websites which give instruction on poses for portraiture and while some give advice their results are less than average and it seems that everyone has their own opinion regarding what’s best, so I’m not convinced there’s a right or a wrong way to pose for a portrait. I’ve seen that good looking models can have their portrait ruined by using the wrong pose and that some ‘not so attractive’ sitters can be made to look stunning with the right positioning, so it needs to be researched further.

Reading Smith, Jeff, ‘Posing for portrait photography’, he proposes that the traditional ‘artistic’ poses should not be strictly adhered to – choose instead the poses which the sitter would like to see. After all, if you want to sell a portrait, the subject is probably the one who will be buying it – and that’s the bottom line. Think about what the sitter would like to be seen as! Never mind what judges may be saying – it’s the sitter’s opinion that really counts! One thing he extolls is the keeping of a pose record book, so that there’s a basis for starting a session – if there are modifications to the ones being shown, record that too.

So it’s down to what’s required for the portrait – Are we looking for an image that the sitter is going to be happy with? Are we looking to show a figure to its best advantage? Are we looking for a particular expression? Are we trying to portray the sitter’s character? Is it for a business display, a family album or a glamour shot for a loved one? These requirements all demand different approaches, locations, backgrounds, clothing (or lack of it) and equipment. This needs to be defined before the session.

During our break, centred on Wiltshire, I revisited the Fox Talbot museum in Lacock. It’s always worth a visit. This year’s exhibition displays some of the photographs by Basil Pao during his travels with Michael Palin. No ephemera were available, other than a few postcards, but they give an impression of the standard of images being displayed:

                                                     

Pashupatinath, Kathmandu, Nepal                           Rumbur, Northwest Pakistan

Rumbur, Northwest Pakistan

The quality of these scanned images doesn’t do justice to the prints on display, but they give some idea of the portraiture to be seen and the ability of the photographer to engage these people and use the light to its best advantage. The portraits portray the characters of these people with no obvious posing for the camera. The backgrounds are unobtrusive and suit the subjects well.