Psychological Portraiture Essay

Another distingished legacy that Halsman left behind was essentially a product of a probing psychologist in him who could treat his subjects with a deep insight and empathy and could make them reveal their characters in profound and extraordinary shades, which he eventually employed superbly in his works of photography. Also, with courteous manners, sauve witticism and stylish European accents, Halsman could establish an immediate connect with his American subjects (who, incidentally, dealt with psychology with an amused cynicism, of sorts) which greatly facilitated him to extricate the very best out of his subjects with rare aplomb and liveliness. In fact, he employed an extremely innovative technique, when he worked on a photography session with Marilyn Monroe, on an important assignment from Life. He made her stand in a corner and took around 40 –50 snapshots, as encircled by few admiring men, Monroe could put her spontaneous and effortless best as she ‘smiled, flirted, giggled and wriggled with delight† and enjoyed herself superbly, there-by, almost unknowingly, giving a large number of photo-opportunities to Halsman, who utilised the same to rare perfection. (Jones, 2001) While Halsman could craftily avoid any livid or lurid references of any â€Å"physical assests† of his character (an off-shoot of his somewhat traditional disposition? ), he was a modernist enough in his approach to employ all his subtle finery and sophistication to provoke his subjects into actually emoting the best reactions which, in effect, constituted the very staple of his subject of portraiture photography, bringing him world-wide recognition and acclaim.