Why I love portraits.

My first serious foray into photography happened when I was studying it as part of my post graduate study in mass communication in India.

My first "proper" camera.

It was a used Minolta SR T-101 and I shot everything with it. Sunsets, still life, friends, family, street etc. Lots of experimentation and a significant amount of money spent on buying and processing film and getting prints. I loved it. I have many hundreds of photos contact sheets and negatives in boxes from those 2 years of intense shooting (Blog post coming up soon) and then thousands more after going digital.

However, I find that the images that have endured and the ones that I keep going back to are the portraits. The currency of every life experience – the people.

What makes a portrait different from a “regular” photograph?

Are portraits more deliberate, more intentional, more personal, more honest, more intimate?

Perhaps a little of all the above. It’s 2 people, sharing a moment of vulnerability and connection in some degree and form. It’s fleeting and it’s beautiful.

I think it’s safe to say that as I have grown older, portraiture is the perhaps the only form of photography that I find myself drawn towards, and the pull is strong.

I often find myself compelled to shoot certain people that I come across. There is complete clarity in my mind that I want to photograph them. At times it’s a bit of a dilemma wherein you don’t want to come across as being too eager to shoot someone or miss out on photographing them.

However, it is always rewarding. The time spent with someone, getting to know them just a little bit more and coming away with some precious photos that I can share with them.

Ankur Sabharwal is an Oxford based actor and photographer. All the images featured have been taken by him.