What exactly makes a good portrait? I posted these three images as a play off of contemporary portraiture. A seemingly natural portrait, staged portrait and representation of a portrait (ala television). Does one tell a stronger story than another? It seems unfair to make broad generalizations as it seems a strong image just speaks for itself..
but curiosity does strike..

Simon Ingall, Rochester, now New York, NY.
Shaun, Pine Beach NJ

Richard Friedman, Oakland CA
The War, At Home from the series "At Home"

Erika Jacobs, Toronto, Canada.
From the series "Secrets"

On a portrait kick. Simply stated. Enjoy and send in work! I'm running low on supplies!

Andrew DeFrancesco org Texas, currently NYC
Portraits

Will Steacy, Philly, NYC
Liz, Philadelphia, 2007 from the series:
All My Life I Have Had the Same Dream.
(click on image to read text)

Melanie Bailey, Detroit
(melanie-bailey@hotmail.com) (no website)
Nikki, Diptych

"Humans are tuned for relationship. The eyes, the skin, the tongue, ears, and nostrils- are all gates where our body receives the nourishment of otherness. This landscape of shadowed voices, these feathered bodies and antlers and tumbling streams- these breathing shapes are our family, the beings with whom we are engaged, with whom we struggle and suffer and celebrate."
-David Abram Ph.D., ecologist, philosopher, & sleight of hand magician

I have been thinking a lot lately about anniversaries of big, life altering events like a lot of people this time of year... seeing that Katrina's 2nd year mark just passed and 911's 6th year mark is right around the corner. I guess it might seem funny to reference Katrina and 911 without seeking out photographers who created work during those times for this update... I guess I, like many others, have seen those images enough. I moved to NYC from New Orleans less than a year before Katrina hit and I guess I just have a bit of hard time looking over those images again and again. I'm sure most feel a similar way towards Sept 11th photos though I'm not in any way trying to shrink the magnitude of such events. Perhaps, if anything, I'm trying to sympathize with those who were a little too close to these events for comfort.

Well all those thoughts got me to thinking about people who always shoot in places that have big, life altering events surrounding them. The following photographers work with some heavy material, though as you can see the images are quite stunning.

(Sleep deprivation might seem apparent in this post. My brain's not all here.)

Wyatt Gallery, NYC
From the project- Remnants: After the Tsunami
Family Portrait on their Home #1, Hikkaduwa, Sri Lanka

Barbara Davidson, A native of Montreal, Canada. Currently in the US.
Agatha Anene, Eziowelle, Nigeria.

Simon C. Roberts, Brighton, UK
From the series: The Forgotten- Chechen IDPs in Ingushetia
Excerpt from the statement:

April 2005-
Largely ignored by the international community, the war in Chechnya is now Europe's longest-running and bloodiest conflict. No one knows exactly how many civilians have died since 1994 but the number runs into the tens of thousands. The city of Grozny, the republic's only urban and professional centre, still lies in ruins more than a decade after the fighting started. In 2003, the Russian authorities began a campaign to repatriate 180,000 Chechen Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) living in Ingushetia, a neighbouring republic. (for more head to his site)