Avedon Portraits

 

For this post I want to reflect on my process when posing Leah and the process behind my work. In my technical post I will include my lighting setup and how I achieved my look once I have the film scanned from that day. 

Leah and I checked out a few books to reference and here are some of the photos that I liked the most and wanted to reference. Avedon's way of allowing the subject's personality to bleed through into the portraits is what I wanted to replicate. (Also taking a page of Karsh's book in subject) My goal was to reveal Leah's attributes and how I few her everyday in the studio. I wanted to demonstrate how she is always listening to music and is the hardest working painter I have ever met. I liked how her painting smock contained fractions of all of her paintings and each stain tells a story of progression. She always comes to my studio with one head phone off specially that ear as well to the point where the headphone has damage from pulling it off so consistently to speak. Leah also has a very energetic nature but sometimes can come off as a somber, I wanted to try and find this balance between the two attributes. I got Leah to look at me and we had a conversation until I found an expression or moment that encapsulates Leah. I love all four photos and I am very proud of my work.