2nd Portrait Sitting: Rebecca

Rebecca, a good friend of my wife and someone whom I've gotten to know over the past couple of years, sat for me today, May 10.

It went well. Rebecca seemed a little nervous in front of the camera at first, but quickly relaxed as we talked together. We talked about how she and Megan met, what kind of work she does, and the flooding downtown. It was nice having an opportunity to get to know Rebecca a little better, even if it was only for a brief time. She was a very good sport given how cramped we were in my studio. Rebecca is very animated when she speaks, and I think the resulting images are interesting as a result.

I can understand the apprehension one might feel sitting in a small room with a bunch of bright lights aimed toward you while someone sticks a camera in your face. It may not be completely obvious from the images I've posted on the blog so far, but I am using a wide angle lens with a wide-open aperture, so the camera is quite close to the models as I work. I am glad that, so far, my first two sitters have been able to be at least somewhat at ease during the shoot and hope that this is a trend that continues throughout.

So, below are a few of the images from the shoot that I am particularly drawn to. Which one will provide the composition for the eventual painting I'm not yet sure.

1st Portrait Sitting: Megan

The first portrait sitting for this series was done yesterday, May 9. Sitting for me was Megan, my wife.

Here are the instructions I give each sitter:

Your clothes and/or makeup should be something that you would wear to feel confident, proud, sexy, or any combination of these. I only request that the outfit not be PURE black head to toe with no other color to break it up. Everything else is up to you.

Megan decided she wanted to wear two separate outfits: a silver nightgown in which she feels sexy and comfortable, and a party outfit that she wore with makeup and earrings. She looked gorgeous in both.

We got set up in my studio, where I had Megan sit in front of the camera, while I stood behind it with my head just above it. With this setup, we could have a face-to-face conversation while I occasionally pressed a remote button to release the shutter, while the resulting images would look as though her eye contact is with the camera lens. This will be my approach in all of the sittings. My hope is to capture the ease that comes when the self-consciousness of having one's photo taken goes away.

Megan, who usually gestures a great deal with her hands as she talks, kept her hands almost perfectly still in her lap during the entire shoot, so her body never became 100% at ease. However, over the course of the shoot--as we talked about the plans she's putting together for her sister's bachelorette party, the movie we had just seen (Thor), and other topics--her face became quite relaxed. As a result, there are some really good images amongst all the photos I took last night.

I must have bumped the tripod at some point during this shoot, because in many of them, Megan's face is ever so slightly out-of-focus. Note to self: Always recheck the focus between sittings! Here are a few that I like:

There was a conversation after the shoot--one that I fear may come with the territory of this project. Upon looking at the images on the camera's LCD screen, Megan was unhappy with how her body looked in the images. Her self-consciousness returned and she talked about the weight she has gained over the last couple of years and how recent photographs of her make her feel "ugly". I did my best to assure Megan that I find her absolutely beautiful just the way she is, but I'm afraid it only made her feel slightly better.

It is precisely this kind of thinking that makes me want to do this series. Still, I anticipate that similar conversations may occur with other models, and I will have to prepare myself for that.

I will use these photographs as source material for the drawings/ paintings for this series, but I also tried to shoot them in such a way that they can stand on their own. Any feedback or criticisms on the images, or words of encouragement for Megan, are welcome.

P.S. Tonight I have a sitting with Rebecca.

Proof That I Have Begun Working!

Tonight I completed my first photo shoot for the series with my beautiful wife, Megan. I will type up a full post about it tomorrow, but I wanted to at least post one photo to show that I AM making some progress.

Delays, Delays, Delays...

Perhaps I should have waited a week or two before I actually started this blog. I've been so busy that I haven't had the opportunity to sit with any of the subjects for this series yet, so there's been nothing new to post since I began building the blog. The past couple of weeks I have been wrapping up the semester at Memphis College of Art, and yesterday was my last day there. That will free up my Tuesdays and Thursdays for a couple of weeks before I leave for a trip on May 19.

In the time between now and the 19th, I have a few sittings scheduled:

On May 9, my wife Megan will sit for me. (Isn't sad that life is so busy for both of us right now that I must schedule my wife?)

On May 10, there's Rebecca, one of my wife's best friends and and a woman that I happen to think is pretty cool, as well.

On May 17, there's Christy, a friend from back in high school who I haven't seen since 2006 when we had our 10-year reunion--even though we both live in the Memphis area (sad again, huh?).

I'm talking with others who may be interested, some of whom are here in the Memphis area and others of whom live nearer to Jackson. Megan and I move up there on June 15, so it will be mid-summer when I get around to sitting with those ladies.

In the meantime, please bear with me. Once I get this project rolling for real, I promise the updates will occur frequently. I will post photos from the portrait sitting sessions, sketchbook images, notes on the sittings and the process, and whatever else may be relevant. As was mentioned briefly before, there will be a hiatus beginning May 19 when I leave for Horn Island (I'll explain what that is in a later post). We return from the island on May 28, at which point I'll actually have THREE projects going: the work for this series, the work for the Horn Island exhibition, and moving! But I'm used to being busy--and I'll only have my weekend job to work by then--so it's all good!

Thank you for your patience.