Yale football player Matthew Barney was a compelling subject for a portrait. At the time, he was with a modeling agency in New York. His agency representative asked me if I could take some good pictures of him to put into his portfolio. This was before he exploded on the art scene in New York with his avant-garde sensibility. One could almost feel something organizing within his psyche, waiting to escape for full expression as he looked—or did not look—into the camera.
That is what I love about portrait photography. You have a person before you, and it is your job to capture something of the essence of that person in a finite moment in time.
Within a ‘sacred space,’ a person’s true nature can emerge. Portrait photographers and acupuncturists both create this calm, welcoming environment. Having been behind the camera and ‘behind the needle,’ so to speak, I cannot help but reflect on the importance of temenos, the Greek word for this ‘container’ where both healing and creating art can occur.
I am honored to have my hand in two traditions that use a sacred space to create beauty. As a photographer, I capture physical beauty. When I act as an acupuncturist, my goal is to help illumine a harmony of the body with the spirit and the mind.
True beauty is not perfection. What attracts is authenticity. Where are those sacred places in your life that allow your true spirit to shine? The world is starving for your unique brand of beauty.
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