Portrait of an Artist...

Well, I finally got (I think) a good portrait for my LF class. My daughter is taking a continuing ed portrait painting class at her school on Saturdays, taught by her teacher, Michael Pesselato. I asked him if I could take his portrait for my class and he graciously agreed. Mr. Pesselato is an accomplished artist and art scholar. He is also a wonderful and dedicated teacher and has helped my daughter grow as an artist.

During his class I set up my 8x10" camera in the studio, found a composition and a place in that composition for Mr. Pesselato. The room was lit fairly well but not enough for large format portraiture. I don't like strobes and don't understand them so I prefer hot lights. They had a couple of old Smith Victor reflectors so I used them to add a little light to Mr. Pesselato. Even with that I had to shoot wide open (f/9 on my Fuji 300 Apo) at 1/8 of a second on TMax 400. Thankfully, Mr. Pesselato is not a "swayer" and stood perfectly still for two exposures.

My daughter just does not want me to photograph her... must be a "Dad" thing. So I asked one of the other students, a classmate of hers, if she would mind. At first she was hesitant but when I explained to her that I would be taking multiple portraits of her in the same frame she thought it would be cool. I composed an abstract kind of shot, having her face reflected in a mirror she was using as part of her self-portrait project. A photo of her is also in the image as well as part of her painting which is obscured by the back of her head. I think it's kind of cool. This one is on 4x5" Tri-X.

So, I have broken the ice on portraiture and think I would like to do it again.