My List – People who’s portrait I’d like to take… and why.

Why do I have this list?

I love taking portraits (duh) and as a portrait photographer I’ve always gone through life saying “I’d love to take xxxxx‘s portrait”. So I thought I would actually make a list. It’s not a “I WILL photograph these people and hound them ruthlessly until they submit” list. It’s more like “something to aim for” list. Actually lets not kid myself, it’s more like “You’d be bloody lucky/not a chance in hell” list. Anyway, I figured if I didn’t have these names written down then I’d regret not have given it a ‘go’ at some point. A bit difficult to explain really, I just felt I needed to write it down.

Now a lot of the people on this list are famous. They are not on this list just because they are well-known. They are on here because I have also some good personal reason to want to take their portrait. For example Bruce Springsteen is on the list. The one and only reason I want to photograph him is because I picked up a magazine with him on the cover, about 3 years ago. The photographer and journalist were given full access to Bruce and the E-Street Band at a gig. I was really really looking forward to reading the article and seeing the images. I was very disappointed… actually I was really mega pissed off. The images were shite. It made me angry. This photographer was given access to an ‘Icon’, to do whatever he/she liked with him. The images were corny, un-imaginative and in my opinion crap. So…. that’s why he’s on my list. Because I want to do a better job…  my chance of getting to photograph him are zero but I’m putting him on the list anyway…

The other reason I have this list

There is a really good Caricature Artist called Niall O Loughlin and I’ve met him at quite a few events. I’m a big fan of his work. He’s done a lot of really cool caricatures of famous people and has captured them brilliantly. However he mentioned he was getting ‘stuck’ trying to get a caricature of Michael Bublé. I tried to think how I would capture Michael’s charachter in a portrait and thought it would be quite difficult too. Why? Well that’s been buggin me – I can’t figure that out. Michael is a great guy, has a great image and should be easy enough to capture. But I just couldn’t visualise how I would get the ‘real Michael’ captured in a portrait. Having a chat with Niall about portraits and caricatures n’stuff really brought together all my thoughts about portraiture and how I work. It helped spawn this ‘list’ thing. We also discussed the possibility of him doing caricatures from the portraits I take, just to bring a new dimension to both our work. If I ever get to photograph anyone on this list then its a definate possiblity he would do caricatures of them. Would be good.

My outlook on Portraiture

When I take someone’s portrait there are a few boxes I’d like to tick and they are:

See Their character

I want to see the person, not the image. Basically I want the viewer of the portrait to see that person’s ‘self”. This is a tricky thing to do as often I don’t get long with a subject and in order to get their character recorded then I need to know them a bit. However I think I’m ok at working quickly with people. As you’ll see from the list below one of my common reasons for having a particular person on the list is because I want to capture their character. There may be lots of portraits already of that person but I feel they fall short of showing me ‘who they are’. People in the media/entertainment are very much used to ‘putting on’ a persona but I want to get past that.

Eyes.

This is a must…. I’m a firm believer in that a good portrait connects the subject>photographer>viewer in one. This is all done through the eyes. Us humans are genetically programmed to read people using eye contact and we are all bloody good at it. There is a subtle difference between the subject of a portrait looking at the camera and looking at the photographer behind it. The viewer of a portrait can tell the difference between the two. Children are great at looking at the photographer THROUGH the camera because they want to interact with the photographer, they have no interested in the thing in between them. For most adults this is a harder thing because they are mostly not comfortable in front of a camera and it takes a lot more work to get them to ‘look’ the right way for a portrait. People who are in the entertainment industry are used to performing, they are relaxed in front of the camera and hence are much better at portraits. This leaves the photographer free to concentrate on getting the character and working with a whole load of other variables in the shoot.

Good lighting

A bit obvious this one? Well it’s essential and it’s pretty scary how many portraits I’ve seen that are ruined by poor lighting. It doesn’t have to be complicated, in fact far from, just good quality. The light also has to be right for the person. The particular lighting technique should be used because it’s appropriate and not because its fancy or trendy.

Influences for the List

As you’ll see there are a lot of musicians on this list. Music has featured heavily in my life. There is the music I was brought up with and that parents are fans of. I’ve owned a recording studio and part owned a record label. I’ve even produced and written music. It’s a big part of ‘me’. A lot of the musicians on this list are there because they are part of my musical history. That’s not the sole reason they are on the list though. There still has to be a reason for me to take their portrait and do something that someone else hasn’t done better!

What can YOU do to help me?

If you know any of the people on this list and/or come into contact with them. please put in a good word for me! I’d love to photograph these people before either they die or I die as it becomes a little tricky after that.

The List

Here we go! In no particular order and this list is subject to change on a continual basis

Bruce Springsteen – see reasons above

Paul Brady

Musical hero of mine. More significantly I’ve not recently seen a portrait of him I like. There are a few ‘nice’ ones but nothing that stands out to me personally. I don’t want to offend other photographers, it’s just I’d like see if I could do something that I’d like and be happy with!

Bonnie Raitt

Amazing singer, songwriter. Also one of the best guitarists in the world. All the pictures I’ve seen of her are very much of a certain American ‘style’ and I haven’t seen much variation.

Jackson Browne

Similar reasons to Bonnie Raitt. Not seen any recent portraits that I like.

David Attenborough

I am a huge fan of his. I absolutely love wildlife programs and I’ve grown up listening to his voice and seeing him on TV. He has influenced me greatly in my life. I’ve actually estimated that in my lifetime I’ve spent 750+ hours listening to his voice.

The Edge (without hat).

Always been interested in The Edge. Mainly because I’m a guitarist I suppose. I’d also like to get a chance to apologise for my wife spilling beer over his lovely new boots while we out clubbing in Dublin yonks ago. She also gave him a bit of grief without realising who it was. Details are a bit fuzzy.

Peter Gabriel

Wonderfully interesting musician. Captivating and intriguing character. Would love to try and capture some of that in my style.

Nelson Mandela -

Who wouldn’t love a chance to photograph this man?

Dustin Hoffman

I’ve seen loads of great portraits of Mr Hoffman, would just love to meet him and have some fun getting his portrait myself!

Gene Hackman

Such a private person and there ar very few good portraits of him, or even any good portraits at all. There might be, I just haven’t seem then.

Peter Lord – Director/owner of Aardman animations. Done!

Wonderful character. Old family friend so this is probably the only person I’ve got a chance of photographing!

*Completed. See here

Louis Walsh

I don’t think anyone has done a proper portrait of him – have they?

Alison Krauss

Fan of her voice….

Michael Bublé

See reasons at the beginning of this article.

Colin Firth

He would be a tough one to photograph. Try to get a shot where he doesn’t look like ‘Mr Darcy’ or that standard ‘Firth’ look. I’ve seen some recent good portraits but he still looks ‘stereotypical’.

George Michael

Just because I’d like to take his photograph. Loads of people have made great images of him but I’d like something a bit more ‘honest’.

Andre Bocelli

As I’ve said above, a good portrait is all about the eye contact. What do you do when someone is blind? Ultimate challenge.

Oprah Winfrey

I’d like to do an ‘honest as possible’ portrait. I’m fed up of stylised and airbrushed images of Oprah. Would keep it ‘real’ as possible.

Morgan Freeman

Amazing face. I want to photograph it. That’s all.

Stephen Spielberg

fascinating person, would probably spend more time talking to him than photographing him

Liam Neeson

Such a strong visual presence. Would love to put my ‘stamp’ on a portrait of him!

That’s all for now. Will be adding more….