- Take a studio photo (posed, flat background)
- Take a snapshot (un-posed, slice of life)
- Take an environmental portrait (posed, with items in the environment that tell you something about the person)
- Appropriate a portrait from art history (with a twist)
- Include a stranger in at least one of the above.
Because class ended early, as I was exiting the building, I saw another class still underway through the windows of the ceramics studio. Half a dozen people were conspicuously at work, sculpting body parts. Oh, this is too good! I thought. Barging in, I asked their permission to take photos. They didn’t kick me out:
You know what they say about 2 heads.
Hands in hand
Off to a flying start before I even left the Art Center, I was feeling good.
As I packed up my camera and walked the block home, I started to wonder whom I could get to pose for the other portraits. Maris seemed a likely victim. And as soon as I thought of Maris, I thought of her college-era love of the Pre-Raphaelites, and thinking of the Pre-Raphaelites, Ophelia immediately came to mind:
John Everett Millais's "Ophelia" is at the Tate in London
Lawyer Ophelia — that’s my angle. I wasn’t sure it was really a portrait, but it seemed so right, I had to do it. I called Maris immediately upon getting home, and she enthusiastically signed on.
We spent the week exchanging links to images of Ophelia and considering possibilities for wardrobe and props. We ended up focusing on two main concepts:
1. Lawyer Ophelia surrounded by office plants (actually, Maris’s house plants):
2. Lawyer Ophelia in a river of office supplies:
We spent a couple of hours staging and shooting on Saturday, and I will report just a few observations about the experience:
- Don’t try to stage anything so detailed as a Pre-Raphaelite painting–and particularly one that involves a subject floating in water! I think I set myself up for failure.
- Lying on one’s back is not a flattering angle for photography.
- Although I felt pretty disappointed with the results yesterday, the photo above with the office supplies is growing on me. I like the expression on Maris’s face, which makes me think that she’s about to become the victim of a vampire.
That said, I’m pleased to have some other photos do a better job at suggesting what a gorgeous woman Maris is:
Maris - studio style
Maris with a piece by an African-American artist that she found in a south side gallery
Cropped close
When we were cleaning up from the Ophelia shoot, I took some snapshots of Maris, and these are the ones that I really like.
Maris the Leggy Supermodel
Maris disentangling the mice
I’m so used to shooting outside most of the time that it never occurred to me to try using a flash with any of these photos. Lots of adjusting was done in post.
So actually, both Ophelia appropriations went over quite well in class tonight. Yay!
And thanks to jlodder for the loan of so many mice. Lisa enjoyed them.
You got Maris to SMILE. You are a genius.
The composition in the “leggy supermodel” photo is perfect.
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