I've never really identified as a portrait photographer, but I love faces. Expression; secret smiles, curved lips, moist eyes, traces of lingering thoughts that are mapped along the planes of brow and jaw.

 
       There is so much undeniable beauty in portraiture; yes, the physical appearance, but also the careful consideration of surroundings, lighting, pose, and the emotion that somehow smudges every shot with a unique fingerprint that you feel even more than perceive. Even though I rarely do posed shoots with people, I spend a lot of time at events, hunting for what I love to think of as found faces... smiles and glances and little snaps in time all contained in someone's expression. These are some of my favourites from one of the Dîner en Blanc events I've covered, with the added bonus of really stunning, natural, soft golden glow.

There's a reason for this post, beyond the fabulous found faces and the dazzling, dancing light: the awesome #PortraitContest has a brand new dedicated @portraitcontest account and is getting ready to grow... the current week's theme is Golden Hour!

 
       When I first came to Steemit, one of my very first follows was @jasonrussell. He has been hosting the #portraitcontest for 29 weeks now, and it was really inspirational to me as a new Steemian. He's put a lot of tireless dedication in, and built a really robust, quality contest that anyone can enter and enjoy; the entries have drawn incredible posts from photographers all over the world! Over the last few months, I've been sponsoring it, so we can keep giving out great prizes to all sorts of amazing portrait content from snap happy Steemians around the globe. Now that I'm sponsoring it, I can't really enter, so this post is to just share some of my favourite shots and ask you a little favour to help this fabulous initiative grow.

So far, the #portraitcontest has given away over $880 SBD, and over 90 STEEM. That's thousands of dollars in prizes! I want to help @jasonrussell grow this awesome contest and the @portraitcontest account so we can keep doing that: I donate personal SBD that I earn, and so does he, to make sure there are rewards for people out there experimenting with photography.

If you want to help us grow this contest, and you're a photography fan or a participant, consider adding @portraitcontest to autovote. It will post only two times a week with announcements, reminders, and winners. This will help us power it up more quickly. THIS IS NOT REQUIRED TO ENTER, OR TO WIN. This is just a chance to help Jason and I grow something that he has worked really hard to get off the ground that I think makes Steemit better.

 

@portraitcontest is a registered trail on Steemauto.com as well. I follow it, and if you want to follow a manually curated list of exceptional photography, you can follow it too.

 
       This account will only vote for winners and honourable mentions of the #portraitcontest. It won't vote me, since I'm ineligible to enter and like to creep around taking photos of found faces anyways. Again, this is NOT REQUIRED in any way. It's just a good option to put some VP towards really great content being manually curated and inspired by your community each week. I personally gain absolutely nothing from this account, or the contest. I really believe in the photographers on Steemit, and want to see more and more opportunities for them to get rewarded. Let me love you!

I know that this post is equal parts my personal work, and a bit of promotion for an initiative I really love. I hope you like the way light hits the angles and expressions of humanity the way I do, and this small collection of my candid portrait photography resonates with you. If you decide to go looking for more... the #portraitcontest feed might be a good place to start. 🖤

These photos and words are my own work, inspired by travels all over this pretty blue marble of ours. I hope you like them. 🌶️

 

Hi, I'm Crimmi. I help run a top 30 Steemit witness, along with my project partner @followbtcnews. Feel free to reach out to us on STEEM Chat or Discord any time! If we haven't earned your vote, please consider our tools, our work on Discord, and with STEEM.Chat — place a vote for followbtcnews if you feel we're doing a good job.