Artist Statement
When taking my portraits I had to think about the environment where I was going to take them. The portrait of Antonio was taken while he was up in a tree because I think that really represents who he is as an active child who is more than willing to climb a tree so you can take pictures. When I first started taking pictures of him I had him in different poses on a grassy hill, but as soon as I suggested he climb the tree, his enthusiasm was much more apparent. One challenge that I had to contend with while taking these photos was the lighting. In the first few pictures I took of Antonio, the light was causing a shadow over his eyes. I solved the problem by taking him to the backyard where the sun wasn’t quite so harsh and that pretty much fixed the problem. I also had a problem with the glare on Olivia’s glasses. I played around a little with trying to get different angles to minimize glare, but eventually I just decided to take the picture as it was. I think that it is important to maintain a sense of individuality when taking portraits, so I didn’t want to compromise that by taking all the images without glasses. I did end up taking some without her glasses but I liked most of the ones with her glasses on much better. They just made her look more like herself.