Not everyone in a team can be the star

There is something great in the art of a good photographer. In the main they exist to make the rest of us look good. It is not important how they themselves are perceived except in the consumption of their labours. The great photographers, Leibovitz, Bailey, Snowdon et al have an ability to lessen their fame in order to make the person they are capturing into the star.

How often do we approach our role within the team like this? How often do we take the back seat to make someone else look great. Even if that person may not be as good at the role as we might have been? To do this we need to learn from the the great photographers. They know their subject – not just on a superficial level but the get to the heart of knowing, some would say they look into the soul of their subject. This enables them to see beyond the surface and into the motivation and core of an individual, what makes them tick, get up in the morning and most importantly shine.

Also they understand where to shine a light to make the best of the subjects features. They look and study but then use that knowledge to expose the correct elements of character to make their subject look just great.

Finally, generally they let the work speak for itself. Most photographers I know are not great self publicists. They let the pictures do the talking, they let those of us who have been made to look great recommend them to a friend and they let the portfolio of work demonstrate it wasn’t a fluke one-off shot.

Check out the work of Richard Harris http://www.the1shot.co.uk and the recently deceased Russ Busby to see modern photographers that have captured my image and yet have never taken the credit for making me look good.