Challenge 2. Create a Portrait of Someone Without Showing the Face

Description

For the second of my Creative 52 weekly projects, Lindsay Adler challenged me to communicate the essence of one or more individuals without the ease of allowing their faces or expressions to tell the story for me. 

Inspiration

My daughter was a dancer throughout her school years. While I took many, many photos of her competing, I never seemed to take the time to capture the essence of her as a dancer. I saw her ballet shoes and suddenly knew what my photo had to capture. While attending the Unleashed Dallas workshop I had the opportunity to shoot a photo of a dog's silhouette in front of a huge soft box. I hadn't tried to set this technique up at home since I don't have a large enough light source. However, I thought I could do something interesting with my 7' shoot through umbrella and a two Nikon speed lights. While I probably did everything technically wrong on this shot, we both love the results! The spines of the umbrella, that I'm sure would disappear if had more light coming through the umbrella, add an interesting patten that draws my eye toward her profile. The angle of her profile leads my eye to her pointed toe and the laces of the toe shoe. I love how this photo captures so much of the dancer I continue to see in her.

Until next week, stay inspired and be creative!