I saw this on Scoop It today and had a peek…
http://lightbox.time.com/2014/10/29/best-portrait-photography/
I have to say I was a bit underwhelmed. Some of them are pretty good but most of them didn’t spark any sort of reaction from me at all. So I started thinking about what does make a great portrait…
– connection with the viewer – usually through the eyes and expression.
– telling a story.
This last one is whereI think some of the above worked, and a lot failed. I felt quite a few of them would have been really moving if I’d known more about the context, but a great portrait should be self contained, it should not need an explanation. Feel free to link any great portraits you’ve seen in the comments.