woman came into my studio I immediately noticed her very short hair. She told me that she shaved her head to raise funds for the Cops for Cancer charity. Before her hair grew in any more she wanted a photograph for her wall at home. She didn’t want just a record keeping photograph but rather an image that had power. To this end she brought in some books with examples that we might explore in the photographic session.
She exudes strength, determination and power. The hand up to her face was more her idea than mine while the brown tone photo was more my idea. Exploring the image where only one hand is up, the composition is strong, framing her face, with the shoulder and arm like a triangle and her shoulder wraps around to produce a soft curve. Without a full head of hair it gives a fleshly feeling. There is nothing to hide behind, a sense of vulnerability and yet her strength lies within, in the body, in the flesh so to speak. Our true strength reveals itself in how we overcome a great deal of adversity! This image portrays real human strength with her hand flat against her head so nothing can come between. Look at her eyes, how focused they are and her lips are an echo of her eyes. For me a true portrait can be determined if the eyes and lips are in unison. Her eyes and lips are saying the same thing, there is no confusion here.
One ear, one hand, note everything is not visible in the black and white image, only what we wanted the viewer to see. The black background camouflages and makes it appear as though she is floating in space, darkness all around and yet the life within is so real and has great potential. There is a hidden expression, a feeling, as she looks right at you and beyond. Her head is straight up and down and her body is on an angle suggesting movement and life. What a privilege it was to photograph this wonderful woman. When working with a client I don’t pose them in the traditional manner because for me there is a flow, a rhythm like music that we see with our eyes keeping the flow continuous from one image to the next.
The brown tone image is softer, more playful and fun. Look at the hands, the shape of them lightly touching with gentleness and her expression has softened as well. See the angles her arms make with her body. This image seems freer to me somehow and the brown tone makes it warmer, while the little twist of her hand by her face opens up and gives an invitation to the viewer.
Over the years I have photographed many grads from all over Saskatchewan, the rest of Canada and the United States. I like oversized heads, especially when I produce grad or high school senior photographs with this unusual style. I have been criticized by other professional photographers who comment, “How can you make photos so large, bigger than life size?” My response to this question has always been, “How can you make photographs with head sizes smaller than life size?” Distortion has always been there in paintings as well as the other arts including photography. It is really a matter of proper viewing distance from the image. Study old paintings and you will be surprised how large some of the paintings were!
The largest grad photos sold in my studio were 40 by 50 inches and we sold quite a few over the years but a more popular size was 30 by 40 inches like the image on the opposite page. I am a professional photographer as well as a good salesman believing in my product and what I am able to accomplish for the client. The expression in her eyes compliments her lips and creates a pleasing image from the right viewing distance. It is important to not make the mistake of having one’s client smile too forcefully as it tends to distort the face making the eyes smaller and hence very uncomplimentary.
Have you ever wondered why there were fewer smiles in paintings years ago? They refer to da Vinci’s Mona Lisa as the smiling Mona Lisa. If you have been to the Louvre in Paris and viewed the painting you couldn’t say that she was smiling, not ear to ear like so many grads photographed by school photographers.
My system of photographing grads was no different than my regular photography. A consultation was a must and so was a projection a day or so following the photo session to review the images. I would accomplish all three in one day for students from out of town. We had a number of loyal and energetic employees to help during these busy times but I always did all the consultations, sessions and projections myself.
The image you see was mounted on canvas as were a lot of my photographs at that time. My brother Brian operated the framing and mounting part of the business as it took skill to produce a good canvas.
What a privilege to influence young lives as well as their parents to appreciate photography in completely different ways.
This woman came into my studio and wanted some modelling photos. She was only in Canada for a short time and wanted them before travelling back home to South Africa. I believe I photographed her sister’s wedding.
“I like your work,” she said. Words like that always give me a warm fuzzy feeling and it was a great experience to work with her. She realized that being a little older could have some drawbacks but the experience was worth it for both of us.
Being refined and slight in build made each pose easy to form and illustrate her uniqueness. I loved working with her and went the extra mile in lighting and was engrossed in our conversation. Her homeland has always fascinated me even though I have yet to travel there. South Africa, the land of beauty with wildlife beyond compare and yet a place with a tumultuous history, much poverty, the devastating effects of HIV/AIDS and so on.
Dean Collins popularized this lighting technique with translucent flats and I learned from him when I took his course in San Diego, California. Forty-one by seventy-six inches, the framework is made from PVC pipes with elastic rope. Flats can be snapped together with ease and various nylon materials can then be stretched over the frame. I loved the effect so much that I bought the whole set. I had the opportunity to judge with Dean and we once spoke at the same convention. Over the years we bumped into each other from time to time.
In photographing this woman this lighting method was used; a translucent flat on the left side facing her with power light 600 in a soft box. This added a very soft flavour to the light and complemented her complexion. A flat was also utilized as a reflector on the opposite side to fill in the shadow, wrapping the light around and still keeping the shadow side three stops or so deeper. Finally, a background light was used to add depth to the overall image.
I love to play with the positioning of hands in many of my photographs. I first observed this technique in paintings and then took a course with Don Blair who spent a great deal of time educating us about hands. The woman’s hands not only help support her head but also frame her face to add the feeling of warmth and touching. The design of this photograph is like the shape of a kite, suggesting her ability to fly high in whatever her future holds.
Working with shapes allows me to continually discover more possibilities in my work. There is no end. Look at nature, in the woods, every imaginable and unimaginable shape exists to be discovered over and over again. Why are we satisfied with just a few designs repeated over and over again? Are we so confined due to others or are we too lazy to work at putting more effort into design? My poem “The Driven Man” which appeared in my first book 50 Principles of Composition in Photography reveals that it takes more than just effort; it takes a burning
