Mira, deconstructed

posted November 12, 2011 in Portraits

Working with creative clients, I strive to keep on top on my A+ game, keeping focused on delivering a consistent, beautiful portraits, but always shooting for outside comfort boundaries. As selfish as it sounds, if artists aren’t creating work for themselves, but for money, burn out is inevitable.

I’m fresh from two wonderful workshop experiences, renewed after a long-season of change, working long hours, lots of travel, and being too far away from home. All I need is to be around a few inspirational people, some dear friends, a mentor, good food, loved ones, and the comfort of home… add in a run, massage, and hair cut. Yikes! Inspiration can come from any where as long as these basic human {high medium maintenance} creative needs are met. Just being my metrosexual self, yall.

I share this portrait of 10 m.o. Mira from the Dirkes family portraits in Minneapolis:

I love this image on many layers. Subtle details aside, this is a portrait of two people at once, separated by 60 years. Amazing how the human condition perspective on life as grow into a ripe old age. Fall and nostalgia resonates deeply with me, and I created this portrait/painting to represent what I was not only seeing, but feeling, at the moment the shutter was clicked. Hard thing to do. I look back at years of learning to paint to make this image happen the way a only photographer could create.

This family portrait session for me represents a departure from the norm. As a visual artist, I strive to “unseen” things I’ve seen before… otherwise, we fall prey to the “norm,” a creative business killer. Turns out, working with other creative folks, like the Mira’s father and professional photographer, Craig Dirkes. It is an honor to work with such creative people as Leah & Craig!

However, for those left-brained folks out there who love a little explanation for what makes a favorite image for a photographer, allow me to explain:
Sure there was a bit of creative license used in the post-processing. But then again, isn’t creative license what art is all about?!?!