By Lamplight

[Katy Noelle]

#1



#2



#3



#4



#5



I'm sorry! There's a fair few, here.

This is my precious young friend. We spent a couple of wonderful hours together, today. Obviously this was by lamp light - just fiddling around and trying to observe the light and shadows. What do you think, please?

[jiro]

#2 is very nice, Katy.

[purplehaze]

I like #2 very much as well, Katy. I am struck by how much older your subject looks in the b&w photos than she does in the colour. Is that in the nature of each, I wonder?

[Wirefox]

Katy No1 and No2 suit the look of the model beautifully. It reminds me of some of the 19th century portraiture with very classic looks. You have managed to use the lamp in such a way that the viewer knows it is lamp light and that is quite an achievement. I am not the worlds biggest fan of heavily staged portraiture so I am immediately drawn to these. Excellent work.

[Diane Darlow]

Katy, I love the third one most. Such a gentle pensive look.

[ilovelucydog]

They are all very nice, Katy. #3 is my fav, but really, they are all nice. Good job!

[Donald]

Portraiture as well. The skill set just keeps growing!

I agree with Steve about #1 suiting the look of the young woman. It's got a 'harder edge' to it than the rest of the set.

There are those that I would probably say I prefer over others, but that all comes down to personal taste. #5 is the only one that I wouldn't rate as highly in photographic terms. I don't think that's the best pose for that subject. But the others are, I think, highly competent. There's a sort of translucence on the skin that gives each image a beautiful, dream-like quality.

Okay - if I was forced to make a pick of only one? I'd have #3 please! I think that's beautiful.

[Sonny]

Wow! I love your photographic style. This is beautiful work. You should enter #3 in a competition. Make that #2 and #3.

Sonny

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Katy,

You have been busy

#3 for me too .... or #4, can't decide

Definitely prefer the monochrome ones.

Well done,

[djg05478]

#4 is my favorite, but they are all just wonderful. She looks very calm and peaceful. Well done.

[Katy Noelle]

Thanks, All! I'm really encouraged by your responses!!! I don't know why, even when I really like something, I still doubt myself so much. I, also, appreciate how different ones of you were drawn to different ones of these. Except for the last one and, truthfully, I don't care for that one very much, either.

Katy No1 and No2 suit the look of the model beautifully. It reminds me of some of the 19th century portraiture with very classic looks. You have managed to use the lamp in such a way that the viewer knows it is lamp light and that is quite an achievement. I am not the worlds biggest fan of heavily staged portraiture so I am immediately drawn to these. Excellent work.

Steve, I can't quite tell you how much I appreciate that you "got it in one"! (You have that expression in the UK, of course, right?)

There's a sort of translucence on the skin that gives each image a beautiful, dream-like quality.

Donald, I'm glad that you thought that, too! (...and, Debbie and Diane...)

There's a story behind this, too. This young girl comes from a very, very hurtful background. She stays with her foster Grandmother, our neighbor, once a week. She's compassionate, patient, sweet, considerate, unflappable and is wonderful with my three boys (all in varying degrees on the autism spectrum.) A month ago, her mother told her that she didn't want her and should just sign the papers to give her away.....

I haven't seen her since I heard that news from her Grandmother. A Blogging friend, in January, had sent me a 'box of delights', full of 'sweet nothings' and my young friend and I had planned to open it together. It was worth waiting the six weeks. We had so much fun opening it and taking pics for a Blog post. I looked up at her, in the lamplight, with her long beautiful hair and sweet face and she looked like a painting by William Morris or Rosetti. I told her how beautiful she looked and we had so much fun doing these photos. (I suspect that she's a budding photographer, herself. She has so many ideas about it all.) The point of all this is that it was SO sweet how she could see how beautiful she was. The time spent was gentle and sweet and powerful, all at the very same time!

[Katy Noelle]

Here's one more.... I don't know....

[Donald]

Here's one more.... I don't know....

I don't think that one passes muster. There seems to be a lot of movement blur in it.

It's so sad to read about this young person's background. As you know, I deal with this sort of stuff in my work. She's got all the cards stacked against her even before she reaches adulthood. Some things in life just make you very, very angry.

[Katy Noelle]

I don't think that one passes muster. There seems to be a lot of movement blur in it.

It wasn't posed, of course, it's just a passing moment where she was reacting and laughing.

It's so sad to read about this young person's background. As you know, I deal with this sort of stuff in my work. She's got all the cards stacked against her even before she reaches adulthood. Some things in life just make you very, very angry.

I know! I feel a bit raw just by sharing about it all and, I have to say, I need to think through sharing photos that have so much personal meaning to them.

[Donald]

... I have to say, I need to think through sharing photos that have so much personal meaning to them.

Yes ... but! Also remember that you are at your most emotionally creative when the subject does have personal meaning.

Whilst waiting for an outpatient appointment in hospital this morning (don't worry - I'm good for a while longer, I think) I was reading Adams' comments in 'Examples' (I take it with me everywhere when I might have 30 minutes or so to kill).

The more I study his 1948 'Tenaya Creek, Dogwood and Rain', the more jaw-droppingly brilliant it becomes. About it he writes, "Unless I had reacted to the mood of this place with some intensity of feeling, I would have found it a difficult and shallow undertaking to attempt a photograph."

[Antonio Correia]

...

It wasn't posed, of course, it's just a passing moment where she was reacting and laughing.

No doubt the best one.

[Katy Noelle]

No doubt the best one.

THANKS, Antonio!!!