Lourcey Photography

During last year’s 40@Forty Project, I decided to create a portrait of my darling wife, Heather. Of course, the bar was really high for this one. I kept coming up with concepts, then eliminating them because I didn’t think they would be good enough. If finally decided to do something in the style of one of my favorite artists, Pino Daeni. What I love about Pino’s work is that he would take very ordinary scenes and elevate them to extraordinary with his amazing color and brushstrokes. It was a scary undertaking, but I figured I would give it a shot.

I started with with a very simple setup - Heather standing at her vanity putting on an earring. There was nothing extra spectacular about the setup or the lighting - in fact, her back is to the camera and you can only see her face in the mirror. I started adding color, then applied lots of very loose brushwork. I finally ended up with a portrait I really liked…

Back several years ago - when I started trying to earn my Master Photographer degree from PPofA, I decided I would try to get a merit with every member of my family. By the time I got my degree, I had successfully entered portraits of everyone in the family - including an image of our Chocolate Lab, Annie- everyone except Heather. I just never had a portrait that I was really excited about.

A few months ago, I entered this image in PPA’s International Image Competition. Not only did the image receive a merit, but it also was selected for the prestigious Loan Collection - an honor reserved for the top images from the competition. At last- mission accomplished!!!

~ by Larry on July 1, 2010.