Reading- Portraits and Persons

Cynthia Freeland

        I really liked how Cynthia started this chapter off by stating the three key things needed for portraits. I agree with all three of the ideas she lays on the table. She says a portrait needs to recognize physical body along with,  an inner life,  and the ability to pose or to present oneself  to be depicted in a representation. This was not only useful information but it made me want to read more because I knew this would help me with my assignment. Then she explains the four functions that a portrait needs to fulfill. This was also very helpful in order to start my persona assignment.
       I also liked how she explained how portraiture has changed over the years because it gives me a solid foundation to build my work on. She also talks about the portraiture in paintings rather than photography. This gave me a different look on portraiture. I feel like you can manipulate and change portraiture more with a painting than in a photograph. You can't change how someone's actual body parts look or are in a photograph but in a painting you can use your imagination and make the persons body look how ever you want. This concept has made me think more about this and how important it is to capture a good image. I love the human body and the different forms that our body can make.  I love that in photography( without photoshop) , you  get what you get when you take a photograph. Thats why it is so important to have perfect lighting and know what is inside the frame when snapping your image. This reading got me really excited for this assignment and it gave a lot of useful information!