I led a portrait workshop last Sunday, April 11, 2026, during the Frost Art Museum Slow Art Day. The activity centered on the concept of portraiture.
Of course, there is much more than meets the eye when we look at someone’s portrait. Treating the photograph as language, we discussed the many choices a photographer makes, even when chance takes hold, when creating a portrait. We talked through the aesthetic, design, and conceptual decisions used to approach the subject, and how the photographer uses the medium as an analytical tool to compress the world into a 2D plane.
The presentation was followed by an activity. The portrait workshop used photography as an excuse to start a conversation with a complete stranger, and to create, even for a moment, a connection that could be evidenced by the photograph. For this, we used Fuji Instax cameras, which function just like Polaroids.
Then, we reflected on the experience and paused to describe what the exchange provided for both the photographer and the subject.
As a photography workshop, this was a fun activity.
