Courtney and friend

[Michele Rushworth]

I am drawn to those images which bring a less than cute, singular emotion to the viewer. It must be something that I subconsciously press for at the time I photograph the subject. I like it most when a story can be told in a tight compact space. Almost everything I do is through intuition.

This is exactly what I mean when I encourage aspiring portrait artists to take their own photos and not copy client snapshots, or, even worse, commercial studio photos. You're bringing a big part of "you" to the work by taking your own photos. What we paint is more important than howwe paint it.