Interview with photographers who work with the newyorker

http://www.newyorker.com/online/multimedia/2009/01/12/090112_audioslideshow_portraiturenow

I love hearing about portraits from the point of view of the photographer. When it comes to shooting high profile sitters for editorial pieces there are always weird constraints. Almost no time, publicists, or unwilling sitters. Also, I really feel that portraits are almost more a reflection of the photographers at times and these two really push to get something out of the sitters, to get the pictures to show some sort of humanity. But in the end, the pictures still show the shooter. The light is theirs, the cameras they use, what they invoke in the sitters, as much as is shown about the subjects their remnants are still there, like a fingerprint on a crime scene. That's why they're hired over and over again.