After looking and a great photograph of my father, I was asked if I could paint it. I often am asked to paint portraits. The closer to real life the better.

So I thought about this. And I thought. Could I paint this? The answer was yes, I can. The question is why?
So I asked:
If a painting can not offer you more than a photograph, why paint a picture?

I know somewhere my thoughts are obscure. They are abstract and cannot connect the dots. I can only assume that a portrait is an extension of a persona. Maybe the same way a letter can seem to convey more love than some one saying it? A letter is more thought out than most conversations. A painting is also more thought out than most photographs.

I cannot understand realism under the context of art.

Maybe it is an attempt to correspondence to actuality. Maybe we need some concrete evidence of some extension of ourselves.
I just do not know.

Do you? What is the reason?