Jump!

If I were to get into photography, one thing that I would explore would be portraiture of people in motion. I would find a camera with a very fast shutter speed, and tell my subjects to move. This makes the photo more interesting and fun. When the subject is in motion they are distracted from the act of photo taking. They are thinking about their movements more than their presence in the photo. This makes them more natural, and you can see the person through their movement. Their expressions become real, rather than staged (Like the portrait of Brigitte Bardot above). Motions are an injection of natural forces.

One photographer who has exemplified this type of photography, is Philippe Halsman. Many of his portraits, including a book of portraits entitled "Jump" and a number of collaborations with surrealist artist Salvidor Dali, brilliantly display the effectiveness of photography done in this way. I found out about Halsman many years ago in a college library and he quickly became one of my favourite artists. Here are a few examples of his work:


(Pictured above: Dali and model, Halsman with Marylin Monroe)

Here's an example of the same principle from a random photo from the web. This one is not a photo by Philippe Halsman:



It is dynamic and compelling and fun.

I have to add a few more examples of Halsman's work. These are not examples of portraits in motion, but they are examples of what a fine photographer Halsman is. Below are some beautiful shots of Audrey Hepburn, plus, another amazing photo that was born of his collaborations with Dali:



(One of these things is not like the other...)



Here's a quick-link to a related Wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippe_Halsman