Right now I am stuck in a wonderful creative space pondering portraits. Not so much traditional portraits, though with the help of friends, I do enjoy challenging myself in that arena to capture the uniqueness of individuals. Here’s a friend and her daughter.
But what if you can’t photograph someone’s face? Maybe the person is shy. Maybe the person has passed away. Using photography, how do you present a picture of that person to the world?
Words + Images 
i think you take photos of things that might share an insight into that person. there may be some bias to that since you as the photographer are selecting what you think may represent that person, or you could have them choose. i liked your idea of taking a photo of someone’s bookshelf as it may say a lot about them. i was also thinking about someone’s kitchen or pantry.. in the same vein as the bookshelf… but then it could be an item of clothing or something that is meaningful to that person…
man… it can get complicated… because sometimes a portrait is posed like me in that tree… and then that is me allowing you to portray me in a photograph. then there is the baby who was totally oblivious and in her own world and had no clue you were taking the picture… so in your trying to capture the presence of someone without taking a picture of that person, again that leads to whether they are actively participating or not…
hmmmmm…… a lot to think about…..