Portraiture

"American Patriot"

I have gotten into watching Ovation TV (channel 274 on the Dish Network). Ovation TV covers art, creative design, and photography.

In particular, the channel has some great pieces on photography. There is one "must see" piece called "The Eloquent Nude" on Edward Weston. I learned so much about Weston's life and loved seeing Weston and Ansel Adams carry around 4x5 cameras with their boxes of sheet film.

While watching one photography series on Ovation, I was struck by a piece on Timothy Greenfield-Sanders and his portraiture. The segment showed photographers behind the scenes and exclusive interviews on how they go about their work. Timothy's portraiture is done with an 8x10 view camera and one light. Timothy learned his lighting techniques from Alfred Hitchcock and Hitchcock's lighting director. Not bad teachers! The set up and Greenfield-Sanders technique is very simple but the finished product is stunning.

You can find Timothy Greenfield-Sanders work at http://www.greenfield-sanders.com/

Today's photograph is called "American Patriot" and is taken of a young man from our church who joined the Marines. I wanted the image to be a simple portrait, simple lighting, but yet dramatic. Like Greenfield-Sanders, the pose, the expression, the lighting is all very simple but yet creates a mood and emotion of the subject. I think the portrait evokes an emotion of toughness, sternness, and hardness of a Marine while being in dress uniform.

This portrait had very special meaning to me personally. Kyle, the Marine in the photograph, is someone I have known for most of the past decade as he grew up. Kyle's parents are very good friends. When I took this portrait, Kyle was about to be deployed to Iraq. I had this fear that this portrait would be one of the last photographs taken of him and he would not return from Iraq alive. Fortunately, our prayers where answered as Kyle has returned home and is finishing up his last days as a Marine.

Portraits and those photographs you take of family and friends have such lasting value. It is as if you capture a person's soul as of a point in time. The person will never go back to being the same person at the point that photograph was taken.

Do you have photographs that have this kind of meaning? Who are they of and what do they represent to you?

Cheers,
Dale