The Photograph I Almost Deleted

Sometimes genuine expression matters more than perfect composition in portrait photography.

I was taught the rules of portraiture. Good composition. Clean framing. Thoughtful use of space. This one breaks quite a few of them. The hand is cropped. She's pushed to the edge of the frame. The use of space is completely off balance. I should have trashed it during my first round of curation.

But I didn't.

I loved how expressive she was. It was a real laugh. One of those candid moments you can't direct or recreate. I only wish I'd had another split second to frame it better. Then I caught myself thinking.

Forget the rules.

An imperfect photograph that captures something genuine beats a perfectly composed one that says nothing. Every single time. Because none of those rules matter as much as the person in front of my camera.

I'm keeping this one.

~ 

Thinking about creating portraits of your own? Here's how the experience works.