Diana Proctor: Intuitive Portraits

Over the past ten years, I have honed my skills in taking pictures, first of family and friends and then traveling, taking pictures of people I meet.  I am intuitively drawn to how natural light enhances faces, and I love to see people where they work or with family.  I see an openness in them to connect and a willingness to allow me in, if only for a moment. I rarely ask that they pose.  I also find that I still see the person’s essence even if someone does not look at me.  I shoot quickly; I don’t use a tripod or filters, or other equipment.  The images in this show reflect my use of color images modified to black and white. While in several instances, the colorful attire tells a story, I see the individual best when color is removed, and their expression becomes the focus of the image. In some of these images, I have incorporated the surrounding environment; in others, I focused tightly on the person.

The images in this show are of people from Morocco, Guatemala, Mexico, California, and Arizona villages. Each one brings back a memory of the person and the place.