Photographing Gaye and Being Photographed Myself

Tonight I'm going to be on the other side of the camera lens and I can feel the anticipation.  I spent the afternoon photographing a very cool woman (aren't they all?), Gaye Adegbalola.  She's a singer and musician, a teacher and a writer and all around very cool woman.  A friend of mine told her about my project and asked if she would be willing to pose for me.  I'm so glad she did!  We got some very fun, goofy pictures as well as some powerful images.  Stay tuned for paintings of her in the not-too-distant future.









And now after 3 hours or so photographing her and learning about her,  I'm going to be photographed.  Heather Addley is going to do the honors.  I had an idea for a piece and needed some help with it so I asked her and Shelia Gray to help me out.

Here's the deal - you know the Before and After pictures you can find in any magazine?  What I tend to notice is the wide disparity in the background, lighting, clothing, and expression of the model in the two images.  I want to play with that.  I'm going to have Heather take a picture of me before I don any makeup.  I'd like her to use beautiful soft lighting.  I'll wear attractive clothing.  I'll smile as beautifully as I can manage.  I'll let myself be soft and pretty.

Then I'll have Shelia make me up as well as she can, truly trying to make me as pretty as possible, getting rid of the bags under my eyes, covering up skin blemishes, accentuating whatever it is make up is supposed to accentuate these days, glam my hair - all that good stuff.  Then I'll ask Heather to photograph me again, but this time using harsh light and an unflattering angle, and I'll wear less attractive clothing and won't smile.  I'm curious to see how it'll turn out.  I am hoping it'll be a fun spoof on the Before and After shots but that it will also make a serious point that they aren't particularly credible.

Or perhaps I'll end up looking so gorgeous when Shelia is done with me that I'll end up wearing make-up every day from now on!

Stay tuned!!