Striking Photos Will Change The Way You See The Average American
What does the average American look like? As time goes on, the answer to that question is becoming more and more complicated.
The country is living up to its melting pot reputation as American faces become less homogenous and more diverse, a phenomenon that renowned photographer and portrait artist Martin Schoeller captured for the October 125th anniversary issue of National Geographic magazine.
The images, which are coupled with the individual's "self ID" and the box he or she checked to indicate race as specified on the 2000 and 2010 census, are a striking reminder of Americans' complex cultural and racial origins.
The 2000 U.S. Census presented the question of race differently, allowing respondents the option of selecting more than one racial category, with nearly 7 million Americans identifying as members of two or more races. The 2010 census included changes to more clearly distinguish Hispanic ethnicity as not being a race, with data revealing that whites would no longer be the majority in the country by 2043.
Schoeller's photographs capture "the changing face of America," a trend that is no doubt picking up speed with the increase of both interracial marriages and the births of biracial babies. The images also challenge traditional ideas of identity, providing evidence for the fluidity of racial and ethnic classification, which is explored more deeply in the magazine: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/01/national-geographic-changing-face-of-america-photos_n_4024415.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
I like the front page better, too. Huffpost loads really slow for me.
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2013/10/changing-faces/schoeller-photography
The white is re reflection of these elements, one on each side of the camera which provide even symmetrical lighting on the subjects.
Martin Schoeller, the photographer, it's his style:
I’m about four or five feet away. I’m not that close because I’m using a fairly long lens to make sure that the face is not being distorted.
At the risk of getting too technical, how do you do it?
I use a medium format camera that takes roll film. I light them with these light banks. Fluorescent light. Basically they look like fluorescent light bulbs but their color temperature is daylight color temperature. They’re called Kino Flos. They’re mainly used in the film industry, because it’s not a strobe light, so it’s not actually that bright. I mean they’re bright to look at because they’re much brighter than the flashing strobe obviously. But they’re for a very shallow depth of field and a very narrow depth of field which kind of also emphasizes what I’m trying to do with bringing out the eyes and the lips, where most of the expression in a person’s face is all about the eyes and the lips. I try to get my focus right so the eyes and the lips are the focus. Everything falls away so quickly because of the shallow depth of field. Everything else becomes secondary. So not only am I focusing on just the face, I’m even concentrating it more by having everything else look like it’s out of focus.
http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/aroundthemall/2009/09/the-technique-behind-martin-schoellers-photography/
with that. It's a reflection and most people have reflections in their eyes when lighting or flash are used so it's normal that they would all have the same type of reflection given the same type of lighting was used for each photo.
Many photographers go out of their way to get those reflections.
PS I'm not a dude and your original answer was a little confusing the way it was written.
It's distracting and it's not common in all portrait photography, it's something that Martin Schoeller was using for a while and certainly in this series, with every single subject, the diffusers' reflections are pronounced.
And distracting, an unnecessary (Schoeller on left) :
I don't see it as a white commonality personally, to me it's just a reflection of light. I have an angular face that casts all kinds of shadows and that was the first thing I noticed - lack of shadows on the face.
Each to his/her own. 
