“...there is a possible human society in which very old people would be regarded as attractive and nubile eighteen-year-olds not...” Adam Gopnik
Everyone is, to a greater or lesser degree, egocentric and attached to a physical image they have of themselves. This often translates into a distorted sense of how we appear to others and to the world. Stolen Portraits presents people a step closer to reality: without kind lighting, without cute smiles, but with a visceral focus on what is real as opposed to what is imagined.
I am making portraits of people roughly in my own age group (I am 62). still with a lot of living to do, yet accompanied by a distinct awareness of the possible number of years remaining. As people age, their facial contours manifest their experience, their facial expression makes visual their depth. They begin to turn into themselves.
I use dramatic lighting and an extremely limited depth of focus, which calls attention to a particular area of the face. I tend to show a person's torso, as this is the part of us that exudes our sense of fashion. Most of these portraits are made with little or no preparation by the subject—generally, people are taken by surprise when I ask them to pose, and the sitting begins shortly thereafter.
The subjects greatly influence the portraits with their expressions, their style, their attitude and their generosity of character before the camera. This process is very much a collaboration. For which I take the credit. Hence the name, Stolen Portraits.