Over at Onexposure.net a man commented on a recent photograph of mine stating, “Great Portrait! Reminiscent of Yousuf Karsh. It will last for ages.” I had never heard of Karsh, so Tracy looked him up on Wikipedia. There are several quotations that I can utterly understand:
“Within every man and woman a secret is hidden, and as a photographer it is my task to reveal it if I can. The revelation, if it comes at all, will come in a small fraction of a second with an unconscious gesture, a gleam of the eye, a brief lifting of the mask that all humans wear to conceal their innermost selves from the world. In that fleeting interval of opportunity the photographer must act or lose his prize. My chief joy is to photograph the great in heart, in mind, and in spirit, whether they be famous or humble.”
Certainly my own imagery cannot even compare to his own, in spite of Steven’s reference, but I can fully appreciate his thoughts about capturing human emotion. Tracy’s now excited, as ‘the most difficult man in the world’ to buy for now wants a book of Karsh’s work… Thankfully my birthday is only a little over a month away!
