Porcelain
I can still remember the time that my sister and I said to my mom: “Mom, you have to find a hobby!”. I don’t know why but at that time she went to a pottery course. Now, many years later, is my mom and inspired ceramic artist who combines knowledge, skill, creativity and a handy husband to create the coolest works of art.
This year she is graduating in the academy and she has to make a booklet as a kind of summary of het last year. It’s not a surprise that the booklet task landed on my desk and how could I refuse to give something back for all she did for me.
She needed a portrait for the booklet. No need to tell you that a simple ID picture was out of the question for us.
To link the portrait to ceramics, I asked my mom to put porcelain clay on her face. We waited until it was dry and started to crackle before we started shooting.
After a few experiments, I was most happy with a lighting setup with my two extremely expensive striplights behind and to the side of her head (just out of the frame). To get a minimal depth of field I used the 1Ds mkII at 50 iso with the 50mm lens at f1.6.
At that aperture my Vivitar 285HV flashes (that can be dialed down to only 1/16th) gave way to much light. I could have used my 580 EXII’s (that can be dialed down to 1/128th) but they don’t fit my striplights. I solved this by gaffer taping three layers of white fabric to the front of the striplights.
Inspiring portrait in many ways.
That’s a marvelous portrait, and an inspiring story. Lovely.
This is so great! I just came from Dan Winther’s website (http://danwintersphoto.com/) where I saw Wesley Snipes with clay in his face. A great image. Different lit than yours. I think your dramatic lighting really makes the porcelain stand out. What an awesome image. And btw, thanks for the confessions #7. I love them. Thanks for the inspiration.
Very good!! I like it!! Your photos are a good inspiration for me and give me a different point of view.
thanks guys
Beste Bert,
Great portrait!!
Your stuff is very inspiring, thanks for brining a pro back to basics in a way.
I am in love with the strobist stuff, your simplicity and your way of seeing things. And……you´re good to your mum
Take care, hope to see more confessions of you
Vincent de Vries
thanks Vincent
This ceramic proface is really cool. How long did you take to finish it? I like it very much.
Applying the ceramic stuff, took like 10 minutes. Taking the picture about five minutes.