Photography = High Social IQ

Bringing some of this back from my old blog... time to start photographing again. Officially starting tonight.

http://www.rachaeldunville.com/
I really love her portraits. I appreciate honesty in an image. This article explains a lot about why I love photography.

excerpt from Jorg Colberg's site...
JC: How do you approach taking a portrait? You wrote that "I approach the transaction of making a photograph of and with another person as an intuitive, magical exchange; a subtle seduction between willing participants." How do you get your subjects to open up to you and the camera?

RD: Part of how I “get” them to open up to the camera and me is by not “getting” them to do much of anything. The most direction I give is to ask them to sit close to the light of a window, or out of the direct sun, for example. I approach photographing as a very serious act, and yet I balance the seriousness I feel inside with a casual, non-technical and carefree presence. Anything goes, and it creates a safe arena - for us both - to just be.I often think that the best training I received in college for being a portrait photographer was in being a waitress. I had mere seconds, under pressure, to connect with any given type of folk that were traveling through the Ozarks on old Route 66. This forced me to engage with a lot of strangers, and also taught me to truly sharpen my antenna for reading people—to find out what we had in common, and what they needed most out of our short time together. Yes, it was just part of being a waitress, but it was also great practice - what I do now when photographing strangers is much the same. Even in photographing someone I’ve known for years, I still have to intuitively navigate and nurture what brings us together in that moment of making an image.I have a theory that attention is a missing element from most of our lives. People need to be noticed and given the gift of real attention, the kind that honors the most mundane details that makes up a person. Has anyone ever recited to you the exact placement of the scars that interrupt your freckled countenance? Have they noticed the peculiar way you stand when you stir your stovetop gravy? Or your shift of mood at a particular time of day? Making these observations, and acknowledging them, is flattery in a very potent form! I relish these small elements and energies in people, and feel proud honoring them as they are, in both my writing and my imagery.My most important job in the process of photographing (besides loading the film correctly), is to be a good listener. I am truly interested in people and love to hear every detail about whatever someone may wish to discuss. People often share, not only their appearance, but also highly treasured personal musings. The air between the camera and sitter becomes a very sacred space of eye contact and open hearts - though I’m not sure anyone’s aware of it besides me, and maybe that’s a good thing. Keeping it light is also important. But that’s part of that unconscious oscillation. I’ve had both family and strangers alike share some of their deepest and most protected thoughts, secrets, and feelings during our time together. I treasure this aspect of my sessions, and, like a mother robin, protect the nest in which I watch over these highly sensitive eggs of spoken words. The resulting image often unveils a trace of this hidden treasure.Listening, of course, includes much more than just hearing stories. People want to be heard, cared for, understood, admired, and paid attention to - there are sensitive chords of need and want in all of us. I think that in being photographed, a tight web is spun around all of these desires until it forms into a compact little package of penetrating emotion, and that is what is often expressed and read in the portrait. As the photographer looking in and around the lens, it’s a complicated and thrilling thing to watch emerge, evolve and disperse - and then to view and contemplate it again, in the imprint of the remaining photographic object.

How amazing this concept is... people need/want/crave attention. Social IQ is so incredibly important to me. Not many boys are very good at this, although lately I've met one or two that have truly surprised me. Girls tend to be a little more intuitive, but honestly, most people are terrible about noticing and then reacting to the needs of those around them. I don't think I'm the best person ever at this, but I think I do an okay job of trying to include people and make them comfortable. I think being a photographer has helped me with this quite a bit. You learn to study people and see how their moods and emotions change, pick up on nervous habits, and also discover positive ways to help them feel more at ease. It probably also helps that I have the ability to carry on a two hour conversation with a brick wall.

Work is slow today.