FAMILY PORTRAITS

As a dad, I understand the desire to have photographs of my daughter. Parents want portraits of their children so they may remember them at the various stages in their lives. This kind of assignment is certainly the easiest to deal with. Children do not have reservations about being photographed. We, as parents, put them in the appropriate clothing, pick the best time of day for them and voila!

On the other hand, having your portrait made for your children is somewhat akin to a root canal. The irony of this is that it is themost unselfish act, and one of the most appreciated gifts that become more valuable with the passage of time. I made sure that i had photographs of my parents. I told them that we were having dinner at 7p.m. at a very nice restaurant, we stopped by the studio and I kidnapped them for a session before our 8p.m. reservation.

Why do we resist having our own portraits made? We feel vulnerable. We are always waiting for the perfect time and we are our own worst critics when it comes to the selection process. n contrast, those people close to us appreciate the image more because it is a true likeness, not he mirror image we see of ourselves. At the start of a slide presentation from a family portrait session, we lightheartedly say that we have one rule: you cannot say you do not like yourself. This adds a little levity to the session and I cannot tell you how many times Mum sacrifices herself because the rest of the family looks good: yet everyone else thinks Mum looks terrific. It has been twenty years since I came to America and started my business, yet I have never discovered a way to help people overcome this reticence and appreciate how well received a portrait of themselves is.

 

A RETROSPECTIVE

Philip and Ihor Makara,of Infinite Photo andImaging, surprised Placido Domingo with a portrait of himself as Canio in the Opera's performance of Pagliacci.

Recently Kris and I were discussing some of the more well known subjects I have Photographed. It occurred to me that when people asked me how tall somebody

was , I found it Difficult to answer. The notable exception was General Schwartzkopf, who made me stand back to back while his wife measured the two of us. I concluded that we have a preconceived notion of what personalities are like. We are so engaged by their aura that when we meet we do not concentrate on their size. I have no idea how tall Mr. Nixon was, but I do remember his energy and enthusiasm when I photographed him on his eightieth birthday. On asking him how it felt to be eighty, he replied, "It sure beats the alternative!" I also asked him to what did he attribute his longevity. His response was, "Never look back!" I wrote these words on a piece of stationary and I keep it in my desk.

I noticed that President Bush was several inches taller than Prince Philip when I saw the photograph I took of them together. I would have guessed they were the same height. George Schultz, Colin Powell , and Lou Rawls all seemed larger than life. Opera singer Denyce Graves, whose presence owns the role of Carmen, Dalila, and the camera lens, is definitely five feet something!

When Photographing John Major at 10 Downing Street, all I could think about was how much bigger the house was than I had imagined it would be. What I remember most about President Reagan was that his tie kept moving to the right. No surprise there!

Philip recently photographed Edward Villella, Artistic Director of the Miami City Ballet, at the White House when Edward received the national Medal of Arts from President Clinton. Philip has continued his interest in the arts by photographing every performance of the Washington Opera.