I’ve been humbled by my exposure to the portrait photography of the great Man Ray after that exhibition at London’s National Portrait Gallery (until 27th May) and also a little inspired too. I bought the excellent exhibition catalogue which has full page plates of all the exhibits. Looking at them I wondered if I could learn a thing or two from Man Ray. The problem was finding glamourous enough subjects for my own portraits.
What about Teddy, I wondered.
I think I have expressed his disdain with that fine profile but there is also a hint of his melancholy nature and maybe the threat of a poisonous bite.
An essential portrait for my own exhibition is, of course, Wolfie.
Looking at the monochrome images of my closest friends, I had to admit that Man Ray was on to something but then I remembered that most of his pictures were taken before the days of colour photography and then I looked out of my window at my cherry tree that has just burst into glorious blossom. Sorry, Man, I thought, but I can’t possibly photograph that, or my new tulips, in black and white.
One final portrait for my gallery: my trusty Canon camera, the Canon EOS 400D, that I bought in Hong Kong in 2008 when my life turned digital . What would I have done without you, old friend.
