Michael Birt is one of the leading portrait photographers of his generation, specialising in celebrity portraits. He works both in the UK and the USA taking pictures for magazines and also produces fine art prints of celebrity subjects.
Birt studied photography at the Arts Institute in Bournemouth in the early Seventies. His dream then was to be an artist and he thought seriously about leaving the college after a year to focus on art. But a senior lecturer stepped in to explain how hard it was to try and make a living from painting so he stayed the course before finding a job in London as a photographic assistant. He worked for Time Out and various women's magazines and started to build a career based on his growing portfolio of work.
“I didn’t originally set out to be a portrait photographer, but my first commission was to take a portrait of a fashion designer and I have since been unable to escape the call of the portrait.”
The quality that Birt most likes to bring out of his subjects shows his thoughtfulness and compassion. “Capturing someone’s generosity of spirit definitely helps to make a better photography. It’s important that they offer a part of themselves to the viewer.”
“Everyday I meet some of the world’s most interesting people and whether they come to me , or I go to them, I am given an insight into their lives. However brief this glimpse may be, it allows me to see the qualities that make us all individual.”
Birt’s style of photography is very unique. Accoring to him, he is sometime limited to a very short shooting period of his subjects so he must find a way to connect with them and open them up fairly quickly. All of his portraits seem to have a playful air to them, something that I can hope to have in the future. Looking at his works has made me want to go out and photograph everybody that I see, doing something crazy and yet spectacular all at once.
“Photography is a difficult method to work in. Either one captures the moment at the perfect time, or not. And if not, it is lost forever.
Website:
http://www.michael-birt.com/
Interview:
http://www.calumetphoto.co.uk/birt
Gallery:
http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person.php?search=as&grp=1068%3BPhotographers&lDate=&page=1&LinkID=mp58828
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