Photo resources for demo

[Jean Kelly]

Hello,

I'll be demonstrating at a show here in Madison in May. These are some photos I already have that might be fun to do. Could you please advise on the suitabity, quality, and ability to generate some interest in portraiture? Or do I need to start from scratch?

Jean

[Chris Saper]

Hi Jean,

You have the time, I would really go after more photos of the little redheaded guy. Market -wise, he will have universal appeal, and I love the vantage point, the lighting and the expression.

The problems with this photo reference are the hat/hair, and the lens distortion. Do you see how enormous his hands are compared to his face? To fix this you have to get way back and zoom in or use a higher mm lens. However, the lens distortion will become a non-issue if you just do a head shoulder, vignette. Personally I wouldn't probably try to invent the light on his gorgeous hair, but if you go ahead with this resource, I think you should try it out first, before the show.

Regarding #2, the pose doesn't feel very dynamic, and the figure, as well as #4, would require ( at least for me) much too much time for a demonstration, as I would see that they'd have to be on fairly large canvases in order to be anything resembling "portrait".

And wow, the yards and houses in the redhead's background look so Wisconsin!

[Jean Kelly]

Hi Chris,

Isn't he just wonderful, (the little redhead). I have more pictures of him that I'll check out and I may be able to twist an arm to get another photo shoot with him.

The young man in #2 is my next door neighbor"s son. He had so much fun modeling, I could easily get him back again. He had locked himself out of the house and came over to borrow the phone. He became a victim while waiting for a key. No planning (obvious) but smoky good looks.

I'm planning on having most of this portrait done, per Michele's advice, so it doesn't matter too much if it's larger. This is part of "Gallery Night" here and I'm not teaching, hopefully talking and pushing portraiture. The area behind the little redhead is by the stadium, and West high school. Beautiful neighborhood of old homes, stucco, and university professors.

Jean

[Michele Rushworth]

While I like the image of the "smoky good looks" dude, and the one of couple together, I agree with Chris that the little red-headed boy will be the best subject for you to paint. See if you can shoot a pile of new photos of him to choose from.

The most important thing I learned from the ASOPA conference I attended a few years back is that children's portraiture is two-thirds of the market. I think this subject will be the most likely one to get you additional work.

[Jean Kelly]

I'll try to get another shoot with him. I took these over a year ago, so I hope he's still cute.

Jean

[Jeff Fuchs]

Other than the technical issues Chris pointed out for the red head, I'll offer this:

As nice a shot as that is (I love the skin tones and opportunities for good grays), it's still a snapshot. Are you going to do a demo, then try to stress the importance of a carefully composed reference photo? Don't be surprized if people want portraits from their snapshots after watching you do a good job with this one. What wil you tell them?

[Allan Rahbek]

Hi Jean.

I too would recommend you to concentrate on the boy with the ball, his colors are so painterly. My reservation on why you should not use this shot is the same as Chris mentioned. Also the background would seem hard to do.

I have a way to decide if a motif is usable. I close my one eye, and if I can still see all the structures clearly, it may pass the test. When you do this you see things in 2 D.

My first concern about a motif is if there is anything that I can not explain and I think that the hat is a good example on that problem. The hat is almost a part of his (present) personality, so it

[Jean Kelly]

Thank you Jeff and Allen, your comments are noted and I'll address them a little later. I've been having some problems posting images (file size) so this is a test to see if I've finally figured out how to do it.

Here's another photo of the redhead, hopefully!

Jean

Well, still a no go. I'll be back in later.

[Jean Kelly]

Good news, I was able to track down "Noah", and spoke with his mother tonight. She's delighted that I'd like to paint him, and we're going to meet next week, and talk tomorrow about how to depict him.

Jeff, Madison is kind of "casual chic", so I'll probably be doing an informal portrait. But, hopefully with a better composition and less hair problems. I hope I can find the same type of lighting, his skin tones are just perfect in the other photo. I'm glad you brought up the snapshot thing, I don't want to paint from client's flash photos.

Allan, I love the hat and basketball too, at that time it was definately part of his personality. But this is almost a year and a half later, who knows what little boy things he's into now! I'll squint and close one eye and ask for advice on this one. It will help my nerves to at least feel like I'm a half-pro.

Jean

[Jean Kelly]

I just got back from my photo shoot with Noah. What do you do when you have about 60 great shots??? This kid is delightful! We went to Tenney Park and I just let him do his thing. Here's three of my favorites. I also have closeup shots for details.

Jean