"It's important to let your subjects be themselves."
-- Herb Ritts
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| Mackenna 12-8-14 |
"Your subjects have had a history --
try to reveal it in your picture."
-- Howard Pyle
"Why not use other art as a subject of art?"
-- Gail Cadnuff-Nash
I've been taking senior portraits for Mackenna.
Mackenna is Leo's girlfriend. But that's not all that she is. Being my son's girlfriend is just one small slice of who Mackenna is. And I, for one, strongly believe that it's not fair to always define a person by a single relationship that they have with another person.
I also strongly believe that there are a multitude of ways to do portraiture that have nothing to do with the subject's face.
Mackenna is more than just a girlfriend. She's a dancer, a scholar, a reader, a scientist, a musician, a daughter, an artist, and most of all, she is herself.
So it was no surprise that she wanted to attempt an unconventional senior portrait that encompassed more than just her lovely face. It didn't include her face at all, in fact.
Quite some time ago she described her idea to me, so it's been tumbling around in both our imaginations for a while now.
Yesterday the lighting was right, we both had time, I'd scouted a good location, and so we let the idea out.
Mackenna gathered some of her favorite things -- her pointe shoes, her violin, the books that mean the most to her.
I grabbed my camera and tripod and lenses.
Leo came along as driver, and muscle, to carry Mackenna across the muddy ground so she wouldn't get her toe shoes dirty.
Together we three braved the cold of a chilly December afternoon to capture this portrait.
It was a group effort, but I think the result is singularly personal -- a portrait that is almost a still life of sorts -- a portrait of a life that is very much in motion.
It always makes me nervous to try and translate someone else's artistic idea.
I hope I did good.
