Portaiture

A portrait is defined as 'a likeness of a person, especially of the face, as a painting, drawing, or photograph' by the dictionary. Portraiture is basically capturing a 'pose' where as photojournalism is capturing the visual side of an event or occasion.

Portraiture has been around for years, but not in camera form, portraits used to be painted of rich or royal people and in a way it has stayed this way, but with the invention of camera's everyone can take a self 'portrait' photo, Although they may not all express the characteristics of a 'proper' portrait photo.

Tony Vaccaro's portraiture was well known for the way that he didn't like the subject to control the shot, going strongly against this stereotypical portrait method, when he was taking portrait pictures, he would wait until the target wasn't posing, so as to capture the real them. He used this when photographing Picasso. This creates a more honest picture that reflects the personality of the subject more than a posed image. Although he acknowledged that it was his job to 'place celebrities onto a pedestal'. Vaccaro would like to bring the subjects out of their comfort zones.

In contrast to Vaccaro's famous decisive moments, most portrait shots are taken of people posing. The subject will pose and be captured while they are expecting a picture to be taken, Vaccaro's portraits however capture the person as they really are. There is a truth to Vaccaro's portraits in the way that the subject is not expecting a picture and they are not 'lying' to the camera by posing. Portrait shots are notoriously posed and there for are not the real subjects image. Smiles can be faked and frowns can be hid. Portraiture is a lie, covering up the truth of how the person really appears, in everyday situations, although they are used everyday in the form of ID's and profile pictures. 

Photographers have wanted to show more through their pictures. They didn't want to just show what a person looks like, they wanted to express some characteristics and the only way to do this was to capture them unsuspectingly.

In portraiture we expect the picture to be posed, which gives a slight insight to the truth behind the method. With photojournalism we are meant to be being told a story, although you can't see whats really happening , only a single frame of the moment. So in a way they both lie, making us out to believe the pose or the frame.

Portraiture can be shown anywhere from a £5 note to a gallery. Most of Vaccaro's work is now in art museums and the famous Leica Camera museum.