Favorite photo I’ve ever taken

Portraits are my favorite photographs. I don’t mean posed studio portraits, I mean portraits that capture the essence of the person(s) in them. Annie Liebovitz is my idol for portrait photography.

Typically, I am very bad at photographing people, and so I tend not to do it. My family also happen to be camera-averse. As soon as they sense a camera, they flee. I have photographs of my son’s feet mid-air as he dives out of the frame.

I guess it makes sense, then, that my favorite photograph I’ve ever taken is of a person. I enrolled in a photography class in high school, and I was into it. My grandfather had given me his old Minolta 101, and I loved the feel of it in my hands, the strap around my neck, the ca-clunk of the shutter. I spent all my spare time out shooting or in the darkroom.

My favorite photograph I’ve ever taken is from those years. My best friend and I went on tons of photographing adventures, and she didn’t mind me photographing her for practice. The thing I suck most at with portraiture is making the subject feel comfortable and natural. But my friend is always herself, and seeing a camera pointed at her didn’t alter her behavior, so I could shoot and there she was on the film, being her.

I shot one photo of her that was the one. She’s in all black, as she often was, and she sits on a stump, arms around her shins and her cheek resting on her knees. She looks directly into the camera. The photo is black and white, and though I no longer have a copy of it, it’s imprinted on my mind forever. I don’t know what it is about it, but something happened right with that photograph.

Amy ♥️. I found the contact sheet, though not a full size print.

Today’s Bloganuary prompt is What is your favorite photo you’ve ever taken?