Attitude and Emotion

Human beings are emotionally complex. Sometimes the emotions they convey are fairly easy to read but, other times, they're subtle and confusing.

In glamour, portrait and other forms of people photography, subtlely imparted emotions can be mysterious yet fascinating. When pictures speak a thousand words, especially pictures of people, it's often due to the refined and faintly conveyed emotions we see in the eyes, faces, and body language of the subject. As photographers, we further shade this human mystique with light and shadow and composition.

In images of people, hard-to-label emotions are often explained off as being "enigmatic." Da Vinci's Mona Lisa is a perfect example: What's with that famous smile? Is it really a smile or is something else? Maybe it's a grin or a simper? Is she happy, wistful, or melancholy? Does she have gas? Maybe we'll never know. But one thing that's fairly certain: People will admire, that is, they'll be charmed and captivated by Da Vinci's portrait and his model's enigmatic smile for... well, probably forever.

How would you like to capture an image that fascinates people forever?

Yeah, me too.

With most of the stuff I shoot, I'm looking for the model to sell whatever her image is supposed to sell with sexual energy, charisma, sensuality, and seduction. This, of course, is pretty potent stuff and works well. And it doesn't just work on the males of our species. Many females want to believe they're made of the same stuff. In other words, they long to be perceived as being every bit as sensual and seductive as the models in the images they see. Madison Avenue has known this since it became the cornerstone of the advertising world. Sex sells, right?

I've written about this before and I'm writing about it again. This whole thing about taking some time to try something different. Not just with the lighting or by getting whacky (as I've written about in earlier posts), but with attitude and emotion.

For me, sometimes it's simply a matter of--once we've finished shooting what we're being paid to shoot--asking the model to give me some attitude or show me some real emotion, something different than the "Look at me! Aren't I sexy?" stuff we've been shooting. Sometimes I direct her towards a specific attitude or emotion. Other times I don't specify what the attitude or emotion might be. Instead, I give the model full reign to show me what she wants to show me and to affect whatever attitude she chooses. It's a fun game. Sometimes, I pick the emotion. Sometimes, I want her to pick the emotion, any emotion, and go with it. And sometimes I ask them to give me a range of emotions. I have to admit, I've often loved the results once i cherry-pick through the pics. And it especially tweeks my interest when those results include attitude, emotion, or both that is subtle, illusive, and difficult to read... you know, when the images have that mysterious and enigmatic thing happening.

The often mysterious, sometimes enigmatic, model featured in this post is Cytherea. In ancient Greek mythology, Cytherea was the daughter of Zeus as well as the goddess of love and beauty. Many might remember her better from Roman mythology where the ancient Romans knew her as Venus.