My Favorite Portrait Yet....

Here are some pictures... Please CLICK on a picture to see it in detail!!

This is a pastel portrait of Al and Jeanne Hardin, in front of the "famous" photogenic sand dune in their Indian Shores backyard.


I took a massive number of photos, trying to find the best lighting effects in combination with the best facial expressions and seating arrangements. I knew I had the perfect composition when I combined the three best photos and invented this casually romantic scene.


One of the difficulties of outdoor portraits is finding a position where the eyes can appear relaxed and open, rather than squinting. This is especially difficult when the eyes are sensitive blue eyes! In the end, we couldn't entirely avoid sunglasses...


Setting to work with my pastels, I particularly enjoyed the way the western light of the afternoon sun created a gorgeous modulation of colors, in skin tones ranging from bronzed to pale, and in beach whites ranging from the hot sands to the cool purples of the grass-shadowed dunes.