Proof: Martin Schoeller on Intimate Portraiture | National Geographic

I was always drawn to these close-up
portraits because no matter what the
circumstances I would always walk away
with a picture that that I liked that I
felt was kind of a simple
straightforward honest portrait I always
felt like it was the most essential the
most valid picture something that was
just all about the person and not about
the clothes not about the environment
not about that background not giving any
hints to their social status and while
I’m photographing I’m talking to them
and playing music so I’m trying to make
them laugh and it’s always these
in-between moments that I’m trying to
capture when feels intimate when they’re
not taking on any trained expression
when they’re more raw unexpected when
they’re kind of forget that they’re
being photographed for a moment if you
ask the people that are not in the
pictures they all like them and say oh
my god if it’s the honors that feel so
different from all the other portraiture
that I’m used to seeing out there and I
would say half of my subjects feel the
same way and the other half are oh my
god that’s so close I look so old oh my
god my pores photographing things the
same way and then building a platform
building it catalog invites people to to
compare that enables the viewer to to
look at eyes in a different way it’s not
just eyes on a person it’s like how is
different you can study different eyes
you can study different lips I never
would call myself an artist I’m a
photographer I think one of the most
important things in life in general has
to be curiosity that you want to look
behind the scenes you want to be you
know more involved you want to learn you
want to meet new people you want to go
places discipline is almost more
important than Talent it’s a lot of
discipline the good old German coming
through the Lutheran German
hard work ethics