I hate trying to photoshoot people- like sitting there and having to face to face with them for photos. They get so embarrassed it's physically painful for me. They protest and whine and fidget and talk about how ugly they are until I want to scream and run away and shoot dolls for the rest of the day. Dolls don't immediately start self-deprecating at you when you're trying to work.
Drawing people is bad enough, and they always mumble a bunch of stuff about "get my good side" and "can you fix this" but they have this idea you're going to "make them pretty" so they allow it. I try to draw people exactly as I see them and leave nothing permanent out,* but as long as they believe Artists Make People Look Good they will let me draw them. (* my rule for this is if it's a thing that's gonne be part of the person for a month, it gets included. Injuries,yes, blemishes no, braces yes, scars yes.)
Photos are not forgiving and people know it. People are sure a Photo is going to show them just as they are, and they are convinced that they are ugly, and that they HAVE to tell you this while you are trying to just get some homework done and shoot some images. People are utterly horrified that I am going to show other people their face. The exceptions to this tend to be other artists, or people who Model or enjoy being photographed.
This so totally reminds me of my mother, who made a scene at every family occasion by dramatically refusing to be included in any commemorative photo and loudly protesting every time a camera was in the room with her even if no one had any intention of taking a picture of her.
ReplyDeletePeople are infuriating so much of the time. I'd definitely rather photograph the dolls.