I struggled a little bit with finding time to think about shoot this before the challenge was over. I made it just in time, but I almost skipped this challenge.
I got the idea to have her crying and I wanted to play around with backlighting her with sun and lighting her from the front with a studio light. I am really happy with how it came out because I wanted it to look natural. She is lit from the left with a softbox and on the right with a white reflector. I love the raw emotion she exhibited in this photo, and I also wanted to showcase her birthmark.
I had a great time styling this because Em's hair is normally stick straight. For Annie Get Your Gun she has to wear it in tight curls so the night before I put her hair in 50-60 sponge rollers and that is the only way we can get her hair to keep a curl. This was taken right after a matinee performance and so her hair was awesomely curly. I styled her hair this way because I wanted to age her a little bit. The challenge specified subjects needed to be over 16, and even though Em is 20 she photographs young and I didn't want there to be any doubt.
post challenge:
I am pretty sure I titled this badly. A friend couldn't tell what her birthmark was and thought it was dirt so I thought I would specify in the title, although the tear could be caused by anything and she certainly isn't self conscious about the birthmark.
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This makes me wonder what she is crying about. Is it the birthmark? Seems like such a minor thing, though I suppose that it could be enough to kill dreams of a modeling career. Great light and like the b/w work you did on it.
This is really a beautiful portrait. Its mesmerizing! Those eyes! They could pierce a dark room. Surely, with that kind of beauty, she is crying about something else besides an almost indiscernable birthmark. Surely she must be. I hope she has plenty to smile about with the score she is getting :)
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