Is there anything more primal, more familiar or critically necessary, than seeing each other’s face? The first thing we are drawn to at birth, is our parent’s face, then family and friends, then others. Faces connect, they comfort, they disarm, they educate and they inspire.
I’ve been photographing faces for a very long time and I’ve so loved having that opportunity. I’ve been asked over the years, “are all faces photogenic?”. I’ve always said yes. But now in light of this crisis, I would respond to the question, “Yes and they all definitely matter!”.
Right now, we all need to keep our social distance and in some cases we even need to self isolate or quarantine ourselves. It’s critical that we do so and it’s helping. But it shines an even greater light on the importance of seeing each other’s face.
As a portrait photographer, I’m struggling with not being able to photograph people or faces. As I tell everyone, it’s not what I do, it’s who I am. I can’t wait to have opportunity to be face to face with someone to capture their portrait. I’m optimistically certain it’ll be soon! In the meantime, I’ll be sharing some of my favourite portraits on social media with the simple hashtag #facesmatter. Some photographs will be recent, some not so, and some will be from the early days.
Embrace and cherish the faces of your family and loved ones, your friends and even the folks you don’t yet know that well. Please pay close attention - they all matter greatly!
Thanks so much to my friend Tariq Anwar for being my first face to post!
Dwayne.
