Portrait-Water Series

Portrait-Water Series Water is the essence of physical life. It occurred to me while working with water in my ongoing series ‘Reality & Imagination’ that water could perhaps be an ideal vehicle to use in portraiture. The ongoing Portrait-Water series is an attempt to convey both the physical and spiritual essence of the sitters at the current period of their lives. That physical essence can and does shift-- expand and contract-- at different period just as water does in different situations. This approach to portraiture is squarely rooted in the tradition of Philippe Halsman’s jump and Richard Avedon’s stark white background portraits. My take is simple. The one to three small items of their choice that each individual are asked to bring to the sitting is/are combined with a color of my choice for background based on my impression of their personality. Shooting through the water then, an exploratory dance and non-verbal dialogue ensues between the sitter, the item(s), and I. The final image is like an unfinished canvas with space to be filled in with the evolution of the physical essence of that individual.