Faced with a grumpy and uncooperative Winston Churchill, the famous 20th Century celebrity photographer, Yosuf Karsh, yanked the cigar from Winston’s hand and shot his iconic portrait of the wartime prime minister. Now that's engagement!
Usually, engagement between a photographer and his or her subject is not so dramatic. In fact, many times, it is unspoken, the wish of the photographer to take a picture acceded to by a simple look or gesture from the subject.
Nowhere have I enjoyed this silent engagement more than at our annual, Waltham Steampunk Festival. Participants who invest such great creative effort in their costumes are justifiably eager to show them off. Here are a few such portraits from the 2018 festival. I’m sure you can you tell which ones were taken with mutual engagement, and which without.