The editorial portrait: You’re not just photographing a person; you’re photographing their relevance.
How do we derive meaning from portraits? And more importantly, how do they make us feel?
An editorial portrait is far more than a face beside a headline; it's a vital paragraph in the story, a moment where a life looks back at the viewer. This is the art of visual storytelling.
Viewing a portrait echoes daily life: we scan cues, negotiate empathy, test beliefs. The same faculties that guide real encounters switch on, so portraits can console, inflame, or rally. Some are cherished; others censored. Portraits sit close to the live wire of public feeling.
That’s where editorial portraiture lives. Not neutral, but contextual, purposeful, meant to be read.
What makes a portrait “editorial”?
Commercial portraits sell; personal portraits serve the sitter or artist. Editorial portraits serve a story. In features, investigations, profiles, and essays, they carry information, tone, and subtext that fit the editorial publication.
The purpose of editorial portraiture
the space between fact and feeling: This is where editorial portraiture lives. It is never neutral. It is always contextual, purposeful, and meant to be read. It is photography with a thesis.
Daphne de Bruin photographed in an editorial portrait for De Volkskrant
Queen Máxima of the Netherlands
An intense black-and-white editorial portrait of Renee van Bavel featured in the editorial publications of De Volkskrant
Editorial portrait of twins the editorial publications of the Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant.
Johan Simons . Dutch theatre director.
Barry Atsma. Dutch actor. In lingerie and thigh-high stockings sitting on a dressing room counter, with a mirror, flowers, clothing, and shoes around him.
Black-and-white portrait of a man with light hair, sitting on a wooden ladder, resting his face on his hand, wearing a dark blazer, jeans, and a button-down shirt, against a plain background.
A large group of elderly men standing together, some holding music sheets, in a room with curtains, all singing or preparing to sing.
A group of men watching a chess game with an official note-taking sheet on the table.
Group of six men gathered around a table reviewing documents, with a model airplane on a stand and various books and papers.
Silvana Hildegard "Sylvana" Simons
