Please, Do Not Say Cheese

Darkroom chit-chat of late has frequently come to the subject of capturing the 'real' portrait. One of my new buddies, and my most opinionated & constructive critics, Sumner, talks about "snapping the smile out" by a taking few shots before loading the film. I find that method funny, but most likely, it's effective.

Richard Avedon was a master of portraying what he argued as "what people were really like." As Leibovitz observed, Avedon “seduced his subjects with conversation."

This image is one of my favorite examples of such method. Avedon apparently knew the Duke and Duchess of Windsor were dog lovers so he told a little white lie on the subject, snapping at the precise moment of their sympathetic, concerned reactions.