What is a portrait...part 1

So, in my last post I posed the question what is a portrait and gave my thoughts on what a portrait is and what I see as the different types of portraits. To review, I tend to believe that at the heart of the portrait lies three distinct views:

1: The view of the subject as the subject sees themselves.

2: The view of the subject as others see the subject.

3: The view of the subject as the artist sees the subject.

In this post we will examine number 1 on my list, a portrait being the view of the subject as they see themselves. You certainly see this view in a self portrait, as the subject is creating a rendering of themselves in the way that they see themselves. A lot of artists struggle with the self portrait, I believe because they have a hard time understanding how they want to communicate their own look and personality to the world. 

Some of my all time favorite self portraits are the ones done by the artist Francis Bacon.

Self Portrait, Francis Bacon 1971

Francis Bacon was one of the most famous painters of the modern era and created some very raw and even bleak paintings (Margaret Thatcher once referred to him as"That man who paints those dreadful pictures"). Anyway, from looking at the image above we can see that this is most likely not what Francis Bacon actually, physically looked like (it's not) but rather a view of what Francis Bacon thought of himself. He was known to be critical of his face and appearance, often questioned his and all human existence all of which led to a torment that showed up in his self portraits

So what about an artist who wants to create a portrait of someone else based upon how the subject sees themselves? Well, we have seen examples of that throughout history, especially in some of the great paintings of kings and royalty throughout time. One of the most famous is the painting Napoleon Crossing the Alps by Jacques Louis David.

Napoleon Crossing the Alps - Jacques Louis David

     In this image we see the mighty Napoleon Bonaparte in a strongly idealized view (of course I don't imagine Napoleon would have it any other way) of the real crossing that Napoleon and his army made across the Alps through the Great St. Bernard Pass in May 1800 .As many people are aware, Napoleon thought very highly of himself and of course would always want to be portrayed in a position of power.

So, as you can see there are different ways in which a portrait can be made based upon how the subject sees themselves. In my next posting we will look at the portrait as a view of the subject as others see them. Until then...

So...what's a portrait anyway?

We all have had a portrait taken of us at one point or another. For sure we have all had that masterful work of art that is the school portrait (see below). Some of us (and by us I mean others, not me) have gotten the infamous "Glamor Shot" or other sort of staged portrait at some point throughout our lives. Then there is the wedding day portraits, family portraits, birthday portraits and so on and so forth.

Me...a long time ago. I know... sweet tux right?

I have spent a lot of time considering what it is exactly that makes a portrait and why.  Some of you might be saying "Well Andy, that's easy; a portrait is a picture of a person...you know...a portrait". Well, is that indeed the case or is there more to it. According to Dictionary.com a portrait is the following:

noun

1.a likeness of a person, especially of the face, as a painting, drawing, or photograph:

a gallery of family portraits.

 

2.a verbal picture or description, usually of a person:

a biography that provides a fascinating portrait of an 18th-century rogue.

Notice is says a likeness of a person, but it also says a verbal picture or description. To me that is the key part, that a portrait tells a story about a person. That story can be short or long, but the story is there. So in my mind I am always asking myself what does the portrait show or say about the person? Do you think that the aforementioned school portrait or Glamor Shot fully represent the subject of the portrait, and the even bigger question is does a portrait need to do all of that?

As a portrait artist I tend to believe that at the heart of the portrait lies three distinct views:

1: The view of the subject as the subject sees themselves.

2: The view of the subject as others see the subject.

3: The view of the subject as the artist sees the subject.

I will be discussing each of these very distinct views in my upcoming blog posts, but for now give some thought as to my ideas here and see if you can find examples in your own life of these various views and feel free to open a discussion.

Life is Good (or the tale of Steve and Stacy)

Last year I needed to put together artwork for an ad that was being ran by Antonio Villárd Premium Electronic Cigars (a company that I am part owner of) that was going to run in a seasonal travel magazine. When I started thinking about what to create for imagery I thought that I would go with the theme of a man smoking a cigar and a woman sitting with him, and the only way that she was still sitting next to him was that he was enjoying an electronic cigar instead of a tobacco cigar which she hates. I also wanted to show the scene indoors where electronic cigars are most beneficial to both the user and those around him.

So the idea I came up with was a theme of Life is Good featuring a couple, Steve and Stacy. Steve likes cigars (they're cool), Stacy doesn't (they smell like dirty socks); but they both are happy with the electronic cigar because Steve can enjoy his cigar and Stacy doesn't have to smell it. (If you want to know more about electronic cigars go to www.antoniovillard.com).

The problem I had was that I was on a tight schedule and trying to find just the right models and location plus do the shooting would take up a lot of time. So I looked thru a stock photo site (I use Bigstock) to see if I could find a picture (or pictures) that I could use and then tweak them on the back end to get what I wanted. I found two images that I thought I could use to get what I wanted (see below). It knew it would take some work in Photoshop, but I also knew it would ultimately be easier in the end.

Stacy

Steve (with friend)

  

So what I wanted to do was combine the the guy on the right in the one image with the girl in the other and in the end make it look like they were together having a grand time.  Below you can see the progression that I took to get the image that I wanted.

In the end I was able to get the image I wanted ( although my wife tells me that Stacy looks a little more pissed than sultry but oh well) and the final ad turned out well and only took me about 4 hours to create.

There are many keys to making an image like this work out but I think the biggest things are: 1) Make sure that the lighting on both subjects match 2) Make sure the brightness and contrast levels match on both subjects 3) Make sure there are no hard lines where you cut out the subjects and lastly 4) That all transitions look realistic.

So that's it, hope you found this post both entertaining and useful and as always I would love to hear your thoughts, tips or if you just want to shower me with praise then that's OK too!

Tribute to a Mentor

So, next month my daughter Hayley will leave the 8th grade and make her way to high school. It is times like this that naturally lead us to reflect on the years that have passed and the people who have influenced our lives and the lives of our families. One such person who has influenced Hayley's life in a very positive way is her middle school band instructor Mr. Switzer. Hayley joined her middle school band in 6th grade and Mr. Switzer instantly made her feel at home. Hayley has since made band a major part of her life and she looks to continue with it in high school.

So one of the cool things that Mr. Switzer has had the kids do each year is they have gotten to go to Disneyland and perform in the park as part of the Disney Performing Arts Program. This is really a great time for the kids as they get to go on a fun trip as well as perform in one of the coolest places in the world (as far as the kids...and my wife... are concerned anyway).

So with Hayley's middle school band tenure coming to an end I thought it would be good to show our appreciation to Mr. Switzer for all of the effort and hard work that he has put into the band program. While on this last trip to Disneyland I took a ton of pictures and I thought it would be cool to put some images together for him as a remembrance of the trip. 

The one thing that has always impressed me is that Mr. Switzer always treats his middle school band like it is the London Philharmonic. The kids always have to dress professionally, and he is always the picture of professionalism. It was because of this that I thought a portrait of him as an intense (even bad ass) and focused leader would be appropriate. Of course any portrait of him would include the kids that he teaches as they are very much an imprint of him.

What I came up with you can see here.

Switzer - By Andy Knapik

What I ended up creating was not just images from this last trip (although all of these images were taken on this year's Disneyland trip), but a portrait of a man who was very influential in the lives of these kids. We presented this to him this morning and as you can see he was pleased with his gift.

Hayley and Mr. Switzer

Too often we don't recognize those who make a difference in our lives or even more importantly, the lives of our children. So, thank you Mr. Switzer for all of your hard work and dedication, it is greatly appreciated.

Throwback Thursday

So according to Canon on Twitter today is #ThrowbackThursday and they posted this great pic of all of the old Canon Cameras in this tweet.

They were missing one however, my favorite and the one that made me love holding a camera and taking pictures which was the T90.

My Canon T90

Of course this made me think back to when I first learned photography which was while I was in college. My roommate at the time was a photographer and I had pretty much zero experience in photography. Hearing him talk about taking pictures (it didn't hurt that at the time he was taking a lot of pictures of girls)made me think that I might really enjoy that so he lent me his old Pentax K1000 to try out. So I tried it out and really enjoyed looking through the lens and seeing the world in a different way.

But then, he let me hold his T90 that he just bought and I fell in love. It fit so nicely in my hand, and it sounded awesome, like a robot machine gun. That's when I fell in love with taking pictures. So with my next student loan check I bought a used T90 (which was still real expensive), switched my major to photography and the rest is history but that T90 was my workhorse for more than 15 years until I switched to digital and it finally died. But as you can see, I still have it as a reminder of my early days of photography and of all of the great times that it has captured.

Paying Respects to Salvador Dalí...and the Sapphire Martini

Salvador Dali - Photographer Unknown

So one of my favorite artists is Salvador Dalí. Dalí was a rather famous Surrealist artist who was totally cool and crazy and whose art was every bit as cool and crazy. Why I love Dalí's work so much is that it really makes you think. First off it makes you think what was this guy smoking second it makes you think was this guy indeed a genius? But seriously, his work invokes some very interesting imagery that makes you stop and investigate what his vision really is.

So anyway, probably his most well known, and certainly one of my favorite pieces of his is called The Persistence of Memory. You know the one, it has melting clocks, and a monster-ish half of a guys face in the dirt (which he used to represent himself in many of his paintings) which also has a clock melting on it.

The Persistence of Memory - Salvador Dali

So I have loved this work for a long time and one night while drinking a very lovely Bombay Sapphire Gin martini I got the inspiration to do my own piece in honor of The Persistence of Memory and I wanted to call mine The Persistence of Martini.

Well, it's taken me a while, but it is finally done and I am sharing here. This piece took me quite a while because I kept going back to try and get the composition right as well as make the content applicable not only to the martini theme I was creating but also to Dalí's original work. So here you go, I hope you enjoy it, and if you don't right away go toss down a few stiff martini's and that will help. Oh, and for more information on Salvador Dali, you can visit www.salvadordali.com.

The Persistence of Martini - Andy Knapik

I'm back

So I know that the rule of thumb when you have a blog is to post regularly, but what I have to realize is that once every year and a half does not qualify as regularly. So I am re-committing myself to my blog because, well frankly, I have things to say and I know that you all have been waiting to hear me say them. Well, maybe not, but hey, you could humor me right?

Anyway, lately I have been reverting back to my good ol' days of photography with an exploration of black and white. I used to shoot primarily in black and white because I loved the simplicity of the tones and the richness of a higher contrast (referred to as chiaroscuro). This image is of my daughter during a recent concert and I love how the metals in brass and the blacks in thier clothes contrast so well. 

So, until next time which I promise will be sooner than a year and a half from now.