Boring Subjects

I got some constructive criticism from a friend recently regarding my "Common Lives" portrait subject. He felt that much of the work especially the tighter head shots did not engage him because he thought all the people sort of looked the same and once you had seen one you'd seen them all. In the past when I have photographed only sex workers who are more visually individual (more distinctive and exciting to view) and strong and I have been criticized for only photographing sex workers (why not try other subjects?).

The dilemma I face is that the "Common Lives" series of photographs deal with the common traits that we all have as human being, the theme of the project is to show the things we share. If I choose subjects that are wild and wacky characters at the extremes of our society then I will get more visually effective subject mater and more dynamic pictures but at what cost? We are not a world of wacky folk but on average are more average looking, more mundane and more boring.

How do I show our shared humanity in a compelling way without photographing the extremes of people within society. Its like I am working against myself a bit, I want to make strong powerful photographs but I also want to show how everyone everywhere is like everyone else everywhere.

As my friend critiqued I believe I need to include more of the persons living and working environment in the photographs, but I also do not want to lose the tighter head shots or head and shoulder photographs.

I do not want to make boring portraits but I also do not want to photograph only eccentrics, what to do and how to do it?

I can incorporate photo tricks, using flash, or wide angle lens to create distortion and interest in the pics, but I am not sure I want to go down that road.

I think I need to look for strong faces (stronger than I have found so far) that still fit into the theme and also where possibly make portraits that show their environment in a effective way. I need to need to make the portraiture universal so it says something about all of us. I need to make the work visually strong and compelling but I also have to be careful I do not walk to far over the subject line and lose the connections that bind us all.

More thought required.

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Just did an email exchange with my friend, he suggested engaging the subject more and showing more emotion, nurturing the subject along, very good advice. I need to use the strength of the view camera which allows eye to eye contact, to engage and draw the subject out more.

More things to think about!

You got to love photography, its so frisking challenging and so rewarding when done right.