05-16-12 Jill

Several years ago I was asked to do a few portfolio photos for a woman named Jill, who had modeled in her teens and early twenties and who was interested in trying to get back into the market as an "older" model. I said, "Yes" but told her that I had never done anything like that. She had worked with many photographers and told me that she would help me get the poses she needed. Needless to say, I had fun.The interesting thing about the job was that she told me that she wanted very little "photoshopping" done to her photos because a model portfolio should show potential customers what the "real" person looks like. Thus, I gave her what she wanted, though I did use a slight soft focus on this photo.Canon 1dII (?) 1/400s f/8.0 ISO200 95mm

Classic Portraiture

My aunt Betty left South Dakota for California when she was 18. That had to have been a huge leap for a petite girl from the midwest. She went with her oldest sister (my aunt) Phyllis. Phyllis moved back to South Dakota after a few months but Betty stayed for the rest of her life.As close as we can tell, this portrait was taken in 1943 in California when Betty was about 22. That's close to 70 years ago.This photo has powerful personal and family meaning to me but as an occasional portrait photographer and as a photography teacher, it is a good example of what I have said more than once to my young students: a well-posed, well-lit portrait will never go completely out of style.Of course, the hair and clothing fashions of the 1940s have faded. And while a white vignette isn't something you see much of these days, everything else about this portrait still "works," especially the Rembrandt lighting. This photo has a sepia tone to it, though the color would have been applied by hand, since color film was a novelty in the 40s.Finally, as I look at this "analog" picture, I think of the billions of digital files (mine included) that never make their way to paper. If Betty's portrait had been done with a digital camera and if it had only been seen and published on a computer, we wouldn't be looking at it today. What will exist 70 years from now that will decode this and millions of other blogs - and the pictures that illustrate them?

Sara

My Photo/Media class and I were "on location" in what some of us call the "Old Post Office." Our mission was "looking for light." I had said that the best light for portraiture is the soft light that spills through windows that aren't facing direct sun light.I told one of my students to step next to the edge of the window and I pointed out that if you arrange the subject just right, you can easily get Rembrandt lighting. Sara is a great subject so it's not too hard to get a decent portrait.