The main objective for me is to understand and to capture the sense of personality of a model, of that elusive essence, which sparks one’s energy to create their life.
This has to happen in a split moment, perhaps as short as 1/200 of second, as face and complimentary gestures evolve surprisingly and (almost) unpredictably quickly.
For that reason a photographer has to be intuitive, has to anticipate, foresee body movement, the way somebody focuses on people around, on lips, hands and the manner of attention to objects in close surroundings.
That moment will not wait suspended for a photographer to release a shutter, it will not re-wind even if it is a performance.
James Thackara is an American writer who has lived in the United Kingdom since 1971 and became a British citizen in 2007. He has published three novels – “America's Children” (1984), “Ahab's Daughter” (1989), and “The Book of Kings” (1999).