A Simple Portrait
Sometimes Simple Portraits are Better than Complex Portraits
This is Emma Gerhart who was 105-years-old when I made this portrait for the Bend Bulletin on May 18, 2011. She lived to be 107.
Emma Gerhart in 1952, when she was 46-years-old.
Working as a photojournalist can sometimes be joyful
It was my great pleasure to meet Ms. Gerhart. The people with her when I arrived showed me the black and white picture of when she was 46-years-old and I made the copy you see in the newspaper story. Sometimes, on rare occasions, I would get to meet a person and be filled with the joy of their life energy. Another person who has greatly influenced my thinking was a Buddhist monk from a story early in my time here in Bend. Their life energy still gives me happiness.
The Buddhist monk told me the following: “Think Good Thoughts. Say Good Things. Do Good Actions.” It’s of course impossible for me to live up to these, but I try all the time as well as I can.
I didn’t want a cliche picture of Ms. Gerhart sitting in front of old pictures or a window looking out or whatever. I wanted her right where I first met her, and where she still was when I left, swallowed in the giant brown cushy chair. I needed her hands in the frame. They were hands that had lived a long life and done a great deal of work in this world. Mostly good work I’m sure. Perhaps without knowing it, she was also working on living up to the impossible ideal of the Buddhist monk to Do Good Actions.
She smiled naturally. Some people don’t smile naturally, but she did, and I wanted it in the picture as naturally as possible. You can see that smile in the black and white from 1952. I’m sure that long gone photographer had her smile too and perhaps he was touched by how natural it showed through in the picture. Maybe he liked it so much, he had a print of that picture hanging in his studio as a lure to convince other people they could smile just as well and just as naturally. It’s the smile of a person who tried to live up to the impossible ideal of the Buddhist monk to Say Good Things.
One attribute of the Profoto light, and any remote light, is the ability to light up a persons eyes. This was maybe the first of many, many times I used the Profoto for the newspaper work. Because when I looked into her eyes I saw clearly a gentle and good soul. You can see it brighter and younger in the black and white 46-year-old version of Ms. Gerhart. I needed those eyes to shine the same as her younger self and so had her look into the light. The light shining into her eyes revealed the light within her and how good a person she was in the world. I’m sure she lived her life with good thoughts most of the time and almost achieved the Buddhist monk’s impossible ideal of Think Good Thoughts.
Now I’m sharing what that monk told me and how it influenced a picture many years later. Ms. Gerhart’s picture and his instruction influence me to this day. It’s of course impossible to achieve. But a person can try.
