How to photograph what a hug feels like

January 9, 2012 5:32 PM

I would like to photograph what it feels like to be hugged (be the huggee). I'm looking for inspiration. Have you ever seen a photo or film shot that captures this feeling?

I'm hoping this isn't an impossible thing to capture in a photo--what you feel when you're in your mother's/father's grandmother's/grandfather's loving embrace. I'm not looking for anything erotic with this, but more a child's feeling in one of his/her parents'/grandparents' arms. I have a great photo of myself as a child hugging my grandfather's neck and can picture what I saw from my perspective, but the photo itself is from the outside in.

Have you ever seen this done? Of course I don't want to imitate someone else's work, but would really appreciate some imagistic starting points.

Many thanks for your help.

posted by brynnwood to media & arts (8 answers total)

You could check out the nicest place on the Internet. There are even instructions on how to record your own hug!
posted by Nightman at 5:35 PM on January 9, 2012 [5 favorites]

you may also want to check out the beginning of the film "love actually", which shows families and people seeing each other and hugging at heathrow airport. according to IMDB:

The airport greeting footage at the beginning and end of the film is real. Richard Curtis had a team of cameramen film at Heathrow airport for a week, and whenever they saw something that would fit in they asked the people involved for permission to use the footage.
posted by koroshiya at 5:42 PM on January 9, 2012 [1 favorite]

There are lots of "free hugs" videos on the web. The look of someone's face softening as they let their guard down on being hugged by a complete stranger is pretty sweet.
posted by headnsouth at 5:43 PM on January 9, 2012 [1 favorite]

This photograph by Duane Michals springs to mind.
posted by timsneezed at 6:11 PM on January 9, 2012 [1 favorite]

...this photo by Edward Weston is what came to me.
posted by bonobothegreat at 6:22 PM on January 9, 2012

I'm a huge nerd, so this was the first image to come to my mind.
posted by Faint of Butt at 6:57 PM on January 9, 2012

I had some candlesticks once that were two pieces of clay twining up around each other... that's the closest I can think of to an abstract representation, and makes me realize why I liked them so much. I searched the web and don't see anything similar, but maybe some kind of abstraction like that?

I could see this as being a neat series - what it feels like to dance, what it feels like to sing in a group...
posted by ldthomps at 6:59 PM on January 9, 2012

I am fond of this photo by a friend of mine.
posted by pjern at 1:56 PM on January 11, 2012