The portrait “ the closest photography”
Portraits have been present in the history of men since the prehistoric times, we have always tried to preserve the “image” of the people we love, and in many occasions our own.
Portraits started as paintings and sculptures, until photography came along in 1839, when middle class people who couldn’t afford being painted found a cheaper and new way to make a “portrait” the daguerreotype.
When the art of photography started to be popular, cameras and developing process were very slow, and taking an image could take minutes. Capturing a landscape was no big deal, but capturing a person was almost impossible.
Many times the photographer had to sit the client in a special chair and use artifacts to hold the head so it wouldn’t move, at the beginning of the human portraits people had their eyes closed and the photographer had to fix that by hand so that the person would look more natural.
When photography started gaining popularity photographs tried to resemble the paintings, the poses, the backgrounds, the facial expressions were selected too look like paintings, and since photographs were black and white only, the photographer also had to add color or “ illuminate” the pictures so they would look more real.
By 1888 the American George Eastman founded Kodak, and revolutionized the world of photography by making photography for everyone by inventing the roll film. Causing that millions of people around the world could have their own pictures. By middle of the XX century having a portrait was something of the everyday life and millions of portraits remain for the posterity.
In the modern days “the portrait” is still the picture of someone’s face or several faces, but in essence it’s a complete new art, because has to gather several elements and create harmony between them. From the equipment that you use to the complexity of the model/subject its essential to be very careful with what we choose, because if there is an image that’s supposed to transmit a feeling, that is the portrait.
But also the portrait is now so popular and easy to make that anyone anywhere can do it.
