What Makes a Portrait Great?

Author of this post: Kevin Kelly | About Blog Authors »

Jorg Colberg of Conscientious and Miguel Garcia-Guzman of Exposure Compensation asked a handful of prominent photographers, curators, editors and gallerists to select a portrait and describe what makes it great.

timothyarchibald.jpg

The Stewart Sisters, 7th Grade. Photographer: Judith Joy Ross.

The responses they received are both enlightening and ambiguous. Take for example these words from Timothy Archibald about the above portrait taken by Judith Joy Ross:

The girls are being photographed, communicating with the viewer, being self aware and being all of these things and more, nothing is very dramatic, nothing heavy handed, but the end result feels utterly profound. The result seems to be a picture of these girls, but then seems to be communicating something universal as well.

More images and all of the written responses can be found on Colberg’s site.

via kottke

One Response to “What Makes a Portrait Great?”

  1. minyak lintah Says:

    A great picture is more about a person opinion. Its an art and not all eyes can see it.

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July 9th, 2008
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