One Second Exposures

I've been looking back at portraits I've made in the past. Some of my favorites are from the Yucatan. Medium format camera, Tri-X black and white film, tripod.....and a relatively slow shutter speed. Maybe 1 second. Just think how many 1/500th or 1/250th or even 1/125th of a second you can put in 1 whole second. A one second shutter speed is slow when you compare it like that. And at one second you need that tripod so things stay sharp.

Do you get more of the essence of a person at one second than you do at 1/500th of a second? Someone will probably say that a well exposed negative is a well exposed negative (or digital file) It doesn't matter if it is 1/500 or one second if it is the right combination of ISO to Shutter Speed to Aperture. I understand that is true from a factual standpoint but I don't think it works that way for me.

Logical or not, I think that working with a tripod and with longer exposures means that I have more "essence" of the person in my picture. It means I have made contact with them and they are willing to share something about themselves with me.