Portraits

I watched a documentary on Henri Cartier-Bresson a couple weeks ago, and can’t stop thinking about his portrait work. Photography would not be what it is today without Cartier-Bresson, and despite having looked at his photos a zillion times prior to watching the documentary I had very little, if any, familiarity with his portraiture. His portrait of Marilyn Monroe particularly stands out – because she does not know that her portrait is being made, it is one of the most honest and beautiful images of her ever captured.

At events I tend to walk around during cocktail hours and dinners to take pictures of the guests. I generally think of these photographs as more of a record of who is in attendance, but after watching the documentary, I decided to look back at one event and think of these photos more as portraits than records.

Here are some of my favorite portraits from the Keep Smiling with Ali benefit I shot recently.