max s. gerber(the latest shot)

i’m perpetually grateful when i’m sent to photograph people who are vastly more accomplished and important than me, and those people turn out to be gracious, thoughtful, open and giving with their time. elizabeth farnsworth certainly was this and more: a journalist, a correspondent/anchor on the newshour, a documentary filmmaker and an expert on places and events far and away. the story this picture was meant to illustrate was about her new documentary “the judge and the general” about chilean dictator pinochet and the man who investigated and prosecuted him for human rights violations.

we took the pictures at elizabeth’s home in berkeley. she was kind enough to invite me there rather than some studio, since i always prefer shooting at the subject’s home if at all possible. when i was loading equipment back into my rental car elizabeth asked me if i had ever been a dancer. maybe i slipped up and had a moment of grace that’s not usually present. later in the week someone else commented that i was built like a dancer, too. i think what all these people are saying is just that i’m skinny. in his younger years my father was a dancer on broadway, and while i have his old worn tap shoes, they don’t fit me and i certainly couldn’t do them any justice. anyway, it was a nice thing for her to say, regardless of the statement’s relation to reality.

i just received a copy of the magazine in the mail the other day, and so figured it was safe to show elizabeth a selection of out-takes from the shoot. i was disappointed to hear that she felt the pictures made her look old in a way that drew comments from her friends. she claimed not to have minded it herself, and i hope that’s true, but i’m still sorry that she didn’t find the results pleasing. as a photographer - who is decidedly not inclined towards fashion or beauty - this is a problem that comes up from time to time. unfortunately (for some subjects) you find that often the most interesting part of a person’s character (in portraits) is not also the most flattering. many traditionally “flattering” portraits lack the compelling qualities of their less glamorous out-takes. it’d be nice if every picture i took was equally beloved by the subjects and the editors, but sometimes it’s one and sometimes it’s the other. then again, sometimes i’m the only one who likes the result. oh well - as long as one of us is happy, right?