About Kirk Darling
The human face inspires me. Every human face is God’s great work and my pleasant challenge to transform into a long-lasting witness.
Wherever I am, on the street, even in a mall, I look at people and think about how they would look best in a photograph.
What are their best features? How would I light and pose them to bring out those features artistically? I look for the expressions that seem to exemplify that person’s character. I am always looking for the story in my clients’ faces that can be portrayed in a portrait.
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I actually started portrait art as a painter, using photographs as the basis for my paintings. I discovered, however, that I preferred photography as a superior form of portraiture.
I believe a photography can be a superior form of portraiture because a painted portrait may be totally born from the imagination of the painter. You’ve seen paintings of characters the artist has never seen, such as angels. A painting may be totally imaginary.
University of Oklahoma, 1972
But when you look at a photographic portrait, even though it may be heavily retouched, you still have the feeling that you’re looking at a living, breathing human being, a real person—not the imagination of the artist.
When talking about my work with my clients, they will usually hear me speaking of their “portraits” rather than “pictures.” Although I use a camera for my art, I have not abandoned the “painterly eye.” I still study how classic portrait artists such as Rembrandt, Vermeer, and Sargent (my three favorites) used light and pose to reveal character and achieve a timeless quality.
I never chase the latest trendy look because trends become dated and stale. My goal is a portrait that will be beautiful and desirable ten years, or twenty, or one hundred years from now. I admit my work appeals only to a particular niche of clientele…not everyone appreciates this kind of conceptual work.
Kirk Darling is a member of the Professional Photographers of America, and is one of only 3000 photographers nationally certified by the Professional Photographers of America.
