Genuine portraits

The Dutch photographer Bram Tackenberg (1974 born in Heerlen) doesn’t want to make too often portraits. It’s too easy, he says. Too straightforward? Currently he dedicates his time on photographing the city, and he brings focus on particular parts of the city by erasing parts of the image. Through this process Tackenberg is able to show details of our natural urban habitat we tend to overlook. But how well do we see our fellow urbanites? The picture above is strong because there is a click of connection with those two individuals portrayed. Do we really see our fellow urbans? Or do we look upon others to see only ourselves reflected, which denies individuality to the one who is portrayed (justified in the name of universalism as in the portraits by Rineke Dijkstra, 1959 born in Sittard, the Netherlands, see for an example here)? (For Bram Tackenberg’s work online see here and here.)