Train Your Gaze

If you're looking for a technical manual on how create beautiful family portraits or wedding photography, this is *not* your book.

However, if you're looking for a thought-provoking journey that pushes you out of your comfort-zone and challenges you to examine your relationship with the people whose images you are capturing, then this book is a must.

It's assumed that the reader has basic photographic skills (including lighting, composition, depth-of-field, etc.). This allows the author to focus on the theory and nature of the portrait photograph. Historical images are analyzed and used to illustrate various techniques on how the photographer can express their perception of the subject.

The most valuable aspect of the book, however, are the series of exercises throughout it. These exercises drive the theory home and guides the reader through the creative process of self-expression through portrait photography. An example of one exercise is to take a self-portrait without revealing your face, challenging the reader to explore their notion of identity and how to express it through a photograph.


Train Your Gaze: A Practical and Theoretical Introduction to Portrait Photography
Author: Roswell Angier
Publisher: AVA Publishing