Yesterday I had the most fabulous afternoon. I had a holiday from work and spent it taking some photographs of a wonderful artist and lovely woman. Karen does some stunning original art in glass and I strongly urge you to take a look at her work on the web. Karen sandblasts her patterning and designs on her glasswork, and the effect is irresistible. Anyway, you are seeing our first portrait session here since we only got through half of our plans; we have agreed that we will go and play with the light together in Karen’s favourite outdoor locations the next time I’m in Oban. Part 2 will follow soon:-)
This was in a room with natural light flooding in a patio window from Karen’s right. Just a little reflected light; I can’t tell you how much I love these “on black” shots of Karen.
As you can see my well behaved subject was subject to fits of poise failure!
But like the professional artist she is, serenity prevailed.
We tried another angle before the backdrop got packed away. Isn’t the light perfect?
This was a more elaborate shot, with fun in mind. We had a flash to Karen’s right and one behind her with a lovely screen that Karen has collected on her travels to make a background. Karen is on a plinth, but there was so little space left in her hall that I couldn’t get far enough back to properly capture the plinth as well.
Karen does her design work here and (I think) the UV glass-bonding that characterised much of her work. She wears glasses apparently and I just love them. The shot is taken in a conveniently placed mirror and the limited depth of field of the 50mm 1.4 has turned the window behind the mirror into a border to frame Karen.
After having fun with the mirror, I took just a few directly. Karen had to remove her glasses as I was getting reflections. Even sans glasses she still looks amazingly poised and intelligent; it must be real then!
If you want to see a confident and amazing artist, just look at those eyes. This is in Karen’s workshop with a small piece of work in the foreground.
.jpg "In the glasshouse")
However we couldn’t just play all afternoon; someone had to get the work done; thankfully Karen had it covered.
.jpg "Karen at work")
I loved photographing Karen and I can’t wait for our follow on session outdoors. Thanks Karen.
