Portrait Exercise

How can we truly capture the essence of a person in a photograph? A photograph is something static, unmoving and silent; while people are constantly changing, interactive and have a voice. Not only this, photographs are also created under the conscious influence of the photographer: snapped at the right angle to achieve a certain image, the correct lighting used for the right mood and so on (On Photography, Sontag Susan 1973). Our exercise was to take a portrait of a Japanese person of our choice, and I chose one who I see everyday: my host mother Kumiko.
Note: I asked for permission before I took these portraits, and also explained their nature and purpose.

In this photo I wanted to express how I see Kumiko and so I discussed with her how I would like to take her photo and whether she felt it would express how she is. To me, Kumiko is a kindly mother figure always making sure everyone has everything they need. Often at the dinner table she will ask with a genuine look of concern on her face if we would like some more rice. Therefore in this photo I asked her to pose with the dinner for that night: curry rice.

While the previous picture is more contrived, this photo is more natural. This photo I believe shows a young girl at heart. I can see this in her smile and of course the standard Japanese peace sign.

These two portraits can be seen as an example of the two overlapping personalities within one person found in Japanese society: honne (true feelings) and tatemae (the face you put on when in front of others). In the first photo Kumiko is completely composed with the mindset that someone is watching, taking notes, and photographing her. In contrast to this, in the second photo she is more relaxed in a comfortable atmosphere and can smile and show her true feelings.