# 6 Photographers Asked to Shoot Portraits of one man, with a Twist



## Northstar (Nov 19, 2015)

I really enjoyed this short video so I thought I would share....from PetaPixel.

"Canon recently conducted an interesting experiment on the power of perspective in portrait photography. They enlisted the help of 6 photographers and asked them each to independently shoot portraits of a man named Michael. But there was a twist: each photographer was told a different thing about Michael’s background."

http://petapixel.com/2015/11/04/6-photographers-asked-to-shoot-portraits-of-1-man-with-a-twist/


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## AcutancePhotography (Nov 19, 2015)

As an activity, this is mildly interesting. As an experiment, it is useless. 

The photographers were told a story about the model and then asked to take a photograph that incorporated that story. 

An N of 6 and they are making conclusions? If all six photographers came up with the same composition, that may be the start of a conclusion.. but they would need a lot more than an N=6. 

But I guess these days anything can be passed off as either an "experiment" or a "study". 

I do not think that word means what they think it means.


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## Northstar (Nov 20, 2015)

AcutancePhotography said:


> As an activity, this is mildly interesting. As an experiment, it is useless.
> 
> The photographers were told a story about the model and then asked to take a photograph that incorporated that story.
> 
> ...



What a coincidence. Your analysis of the proper use of the word “experiment” was also “mildly interesting” and “useless". 

I thought the photographers did a great job of capturing a portrait of the person they thought they were photographing. Let’s just keep it that simple, ok? 

The inmate and psychic portraits were especially good. imo

north


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## Stu_bert (Dec 17, 2015)

Northstar said:


> AcutancePhotography said:
> 
> 
> > As an activity, this is mildly interesting. As an experiment, it is useless.
> ...



I didnt watch the video, but read the site, thank you.

I would have liked them to have tried out the resultant pictures on the public and perhaps give them the 6 (or perhaps more) categories, and see if they could match the photograph to the description. I didnt think much of the first picture personally - as a fisherman I would have thought you were more interested in his physical attributes - how the fishing has affected him. The others were far better.

For anyone doing portraiture and trying to tell a story, I think this article would be an excellent introduction. I remember a vaguely similar one of 6 photographers asked to take pictures of a war graveyard in the states. Their different takes on trying to portray it were very illuminating and informative.

thanks again for sharing.


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