Memorable Portraits...Part 1

So I have recently been looking over and posting about romantic images, by which I mean images that convey a clear nostalgic emotion. I then began thinking that I will be vacationing with some family soon and that I would like to capture some memorable portraits.  So, time to deep dive some Memorable Portraits!

This one comes from Jane Bown was a famous photographer for the Telegraph here in England. She was known for the portraits of the powerful and famous.  She never took too many images and usually could get what she wanted in a few shots. She did not like to waste film!

Here we have a wonderful portrait of Orson Wells taken in the 1950's.  This is an amazing photograph. The intensity of his eyes is impossible to imitate. He was angry and did not want to waste time with a portrait. She captured his intensity and she did it very naturally. The lighting is perfect with only his face being lit.

While in this image, Bown captured sheer intensity of Wells, the real quality of this image is made by the lighting. The complete blackness makes his face appear as if it is floating. Portraits are about two things, lighting and facial expression. The rest is details.

Below is an image I took of my wife in a bar. We were sitting next to a massive window with reflected light bouncing into the bar. My wife was a bit tired and thinking back to all the sites we had visited. I pulled out my camera and stole this image. The expression is very pensive and the lighting was perfect. 

Lighting & Expression.....the rest is details...