To Peter, with Love
Peter Lindberg, the world-known fashion photographer and director, has passed away at the age of 74.
Beauty is a complex notion, and we all attach different attributes to it. To Peter Lindbergh, I think beauty was, above all, sincere; which is the reason that his work reached the souls of millions across the world, including my own.
I do not intend to pretend that I knew anything personal or exclusive about Peter. I wish to draw from his work and instead, be sincere, by identifying as one of the countless people that Peter’s work has inspired and by sharing my experience of watching his work.
A Flawless Portraitist
I believe that the greatest feat that Peter Lindbergh had achieved in his career, was not that he had created astonishing works throughout the decades, but that he was a successful and complete portraitist. What Peter had achieved, and that is evident in every single image of his, is that he had mastered the process of portraiture, not just the image-making aspect of it.
Through my personal (and limited) experience in portraiture, I’ve grown to admire those individuals who manage to perfect the process of portraiture, which amounts to much more than simply composing and taking an image. The reason why this is vital in portraiture, is that the subject is a thinking, acting human being, who may be of any one of infinite possible backgrounds and require guidance in any one of infinite possible parts of the process of taking their picture.
What has marked Peter as succesful in this impossibly difficult task is hidden in plain sight in any one of his images; specifically, in the expressions of his subjects. His portraits are never forced, not in the slightest bit. Never does one look at someone’s portrait by Peter and think “that person was not comfortable having their portrait taken”. To a great extent, this does not come by default, it is Peter’s work, that eventually provides this ease.
A successful portraitist is not only required to create a meaningful portrait with depth and truth in it, but simultaneously communicate, equally meaningfully, with their subject, and establish a bond of trust and honesty. Peter’s love for sincerity could be the very reason why he was always so succesful in this task. He managed to put his subjects at ease, and not make them think twice about the man taking their picture. No matter the expressions, the lighting or the setting of the portrait at hand, behind the scenes, one can always feel this ease in the air.
Beauty in Sincerity
Talking of honesty and sincerity, it is no secret that the core of Peter’s work, and the key aspect that attracted so many viewers across the world to his work, was the sincere, effortless, natural feeling of his images.
It is a very special thing, how Peter’s images get you. They disarm you and welcome you into his perception of beauty, where no stereotype is forced, no rule imposed, no preconception applied; beauty can simply be, in Peter’s world.
Regardless of how one defines beauty, Peter’s method of bringing it out can hardly be fought against. There is an untold magic in the expression of his subjects, which strikes a perfect balance between being at ease with the portraitist in front of them, and also exposed, almost naked before the lens — in a way that no amount of clothing or lighting can cover. This balance is, to me, the essence of his work, and talent.
Peter Lindbergh was many things besides a succesful artist. He was an ample portraitist, able to deeply communicate with his subjects to collaboratively create honest images that exuded a feeling of familiarity and thrill at the same time. His belief in raw beauty and simplicity are traits that defined his images, and helped connect so many people to them.
Let us attempt to adopt some of Peter’s elements, in the prospect of creating Art that isn’t superficial or imposed, nor repetitive or rigged, but simply honest, true to its world; for, as Peter showed, that’s what true beauty is revealed.
To Peter, with love.
