Portraiture has always been a key part of my photographic practice, which started with a GCSE photography course in 1988. Taking portraits of friends and family, it became clear that of the various photographic practices, portraiture was what I loved most.

For me, portraiture is about trying to capture a sense of the sitter’s personality. Back when I was shooting with film, this was a far more contemplative approach, especially as I would only have 12 exposures per film, unlike now where the only limit is the size of the SD card in the camera.

The approach I would take was to place my camera on a tripod, get set up and while talking / looking at my subject (rather than through the camera), and when I saw them being peak ‘them’, I’d release the shutter and take an image…..wind on the film and wait for the next moment.

When you had nailed it, you knew. There was no back screen, you had to wait for to see the negatives, but you just knew. In many ways, as I write this, I miss that approach. 

Not having taken many portraits other than the odd images of my family, I found myself (off the back of the images from the Agency Parties gallery), as the official portrait photographer at the marketing agency I was working for. Now shooting digital the approach needed to be faster, with 10-15 minutes to get the shot. 

I feel a need to get back to that more contemplative portraiture approach. Maybe a return to film would aid that.