Blue Smoke in a Quiet Portrait, Made at Home
In 2017, I bought a small lighting set and finally put it to use here. Before this, I had only tried it with product photographs. I had made one quick portrait of a friend, but I had never really photographed a model.
When the house was free, a friend came over and we made this small session. I selected around fifteen or twenty photographs, knowing that some would still be left behind. I wanted to work through them slowly and share them one by one.
The First Portrait After Five Years
For a first proper portrait after five years, I liked where this one landed. The real work, I think, is getting the light into place so the photograph can keep its shape before too much happens later on a computer. If I could make even two photographs like this each week, I wondered how much I might learn through practice.
Blue smoke in a quiet portrait was never the whole point for me. What I remember is the dark room, the blue light, the pause in her eyes, and the permission to let a photograph stay dark. Some people may find it too dark. I like dark. 🥰
Two days before writing this, my grandmother had become the first model I photographed. I had forgotten that while writing. Blue smoke in a quiet portrait can stay only as an image; that first photograph of her holds a much more personal place for me.
BE
