Astute article on how portraiture painting is in sad decline due to modern practice of using photographs to paint portraits from.
http://www.culturalweekly.com/why-contemporary-portraiture-shouldnt-show-its-face.html
Even of you are as wealthy as the Princess of Cambridge, it is doubtful you could have a timeless portrait done in this time as her unfortunate portrait attest ; but the idea that we all deserve an iconic image should not be exclusive to the priviliged. Photography is of a different medium than a painting, and perhaps that is why it diminishes the quality of painting when a photo is used in lieu of a live model. However when you accept the medium in its own terms, remarkable images result. According to art critic, Camille Paglia “The history of fashion photography from 1950 to 1990 is one of the great moments in the history of art”, see Sue Bryce’s work or Cathleen Naundorf . Social media profiles or headshots can be regarded as the contemporary version of oil paintings that adorned Victorian homes.;portraits that serve the subject for posterity from a favorable angle. It is worth asking that of your profile pic or headshot, like a classic oil painting, do you seem interesting, dimensional, complicated, approachable? In our fashion portraits or business headshots we strive to create a portrait that is approachable, and highlights your unique physical persona – through makeup, hair styling we create an image of you that looks like you but is optimized? The Princess’s portrait, is uncomfortable and failed to capture her unique attributes of prettiness and youthful poise.