Savannah, 2024

I had an old friend/photographer who, when talking about making pictures, would say, “Look deep.” It was his way of saying watch backgrounds; they can distract from or support the main subject, and are seldom neutral.

In making portraits of people or animals there can be a tendency to frame tightly around the face, or head and shoulders, and those compositions can effectively show what the subject looks like. But do they tell you anything else? By opening the frame up a bit, some added detail can imply ‘background’ information about the subject, telling a story. How much ‘a bit’ is, is about balance. Too much/too busy and the subject is overwhelmed, instead of being the dominant figure.

I was photographing some docents in period costumes at the Green-Meldrim House, maybe best known as the Savannah headquarters for General William T. Sherman at the end of his March to the Sea. I noticed the painting behind my model, and including that offered a suggestion of an important ancestor, or maybe my actor as a younger man. By having each portrait looking into the center of the frame, and toward each other, I kept the design cohesive. Of course in this case any imagined stories are fantasy, but they offer a more layered, complex presentation.

For more of Bill’s photographs, go to https://www.billdurrence.com/index