All images and text by Xavier D. Buendia.
There seems to be a trend in photography that sees street photographers and others flirting with portraiture and fashion photography. I’ll cover that at the end but for now, let’s focus on why I’m one of those photographers. If business is steady as a food photographer, it might sound silly to get into other areas of photography but the reason I got into portrait and fashion photography is for sheer fun and pleasure; For curiosity, to explore a different aspect of the creative process that doesn’t apply to my every-day photography routine; to learn something new, to do something because I want to, as a hobby!
But why portraiture? I have this personal challenge of expressing my visual ideas into a photograph and having the interaction with people as a tool. I’ve tried landscape and it bored me to death, long exposures and HDRs didn’t excite me, I don’t have the time and patience for wildlife photography and street photography gets repetitive and cliché more often.I have this alchemical vibe for portraiture and exploring it takes me to very different levels as a creative.