Demi Moore was one of the celebrities photographed for the Peace in 10,000 Hands campaign.
Photo / Stuart Robertson
Demi Moore was one of the celebrities photographed for the Peace in 10,000 Hands campaign.
Photo / Stuart Robertson
The selfie may be the millennial photo of choice but nobody really likes seeing them everywhere.
So to mark World Photography Day today photographer Stuart Robertson is issuing a challenge - revert to the timeless art of the portrait.
"People are interested in seeing other things, not a picture ofyou walking your dog on the beach," Robertson said.
"The number one thing people do not want to see on other people's feeds is selfies. But people put a selfie on their feed and look at everybody else's feeds with a selfie and go 'That's the last thing I want to see is a picture of you having a glass of wine'."
The world could take a break from its self-perpetuating love-hate relationship with selfies, Robertson said, and have a go at portrait photography instead.
Photographer Stuart Robertson (right) with comedian Ricky Gervais.
And Robertson is an expert in the classic portrait. The self-taught photographer has landed some of Hollywood's biggest name A-list celebrities in his Peace in 10,000 Hands project.
The likes of Demi Moore, Danny Devito, Emily Blunt, Ricky Gervais, Jamie Lee Curtis and Kiwi comedian Oscar Kightley took part in the campaign to raise $100 million for children's charity.
Each portrait shows the person holding a white rose in their hand in a bid to ignite a global conversation on peace.
"I'm all for taking great pictures of other people and getting these unguarded moments of humanity."
The artworks sell for as much as $30,000 and the money goes straight to relevant children's charities around the world.
Demi Moore was one of the celebrities photographed for the Peace in 10,000 Hands campaign.
Photo / Stuart Robertson
Robertson took his experience photographing portraits in some of the world's toughest regions including Russia, the Syrian border and Haiti, and used it to help tell the stories of 100 Kiwis in the Huawei New Zealand's 100 Portraits: Untold Stories project.
The project aims to provide insight into wider society as well as challenge New Zealanders to consider people's stories beyond face value.
One of three photographers using just a Huawei P10 smartphone, Robertson roamed Auckland's Karangahake Rd at 2am and Wellington's Cuba St at midnight, and other random places around New Zealand to capture true life stories.
"The challenge for me really was finding these untold stories. I photographed people that were high on drugs, and prostitutes because it's actually what makes it interesting."
A portrait is about "sending them to a place where you capture this unguarded humanity", and making the viewer do a double-take, Robertson said.
Ellen DeGeneres retweeted this celebrity-crammed selfie from the 2014 Academy Awards taken by actor Bradley Cooper (foreground).
The former television presenter, magician and stage pick-pocket, who owns a gallery in Queenstown, was tasked with finding out the best and worst things that had ever happened to his subjects.
"It was horrific; rape, child abuse, this sort of stuff."
His number one tip, aside from good lighting, was to "collaborate" with the subject.
• Learn basic composition. There are two things happening in your portrait, the person and the background. Make them work together or against each other for effect.
• Can I take just one more? After a shoot have a break with the subject, have a coffee or chat and then ask if you can take one more photo. Their guard will be down and you can capture a magic moment.
• Find an interesting background, the canvas to your portrait.
• Focal point of eyes. When instructing the talent, ask them to look through or beyond the lens rather than straight at it.
