Circa November 2, 2013
Assignment
I created this image in my second year at the Academy for a concept photography class. The purpose of the assignment was to grab three everyday objects and to create images that utilize the objects in three different ways. My three objects were white fabric, a flower, and an old pair of shoes.
Medici’s Muse
Of all the images I took for this assignment, this one was my favorite. From concept to finish, this image marked the first time that I produced a photo shoot with a topic that I was genuinely passionate about photographing.
@AliciaM.BlairPhotography
Re-Editing in 2016
Looking at the image today, I am reminded of why I was drawn to it in the first place. There is something about that aqua blue color, and I love the elegance of my model’s pose. However, even today I feel as though there is something in the image that isn’t complete.
Originally I wanted to stay away from compositing. I wanted to keep it simple and create a colorful textured background in order to keep the viewer’s attention on the model’s pose. After various attempts at textures, nothing seemed to fit, and the image looked rather boring. I left the image for a couple of days and came back with fresh eyes.
Inspiration
My original intention for this shoot back in 2013 was to create a statue that looked like it was coming to life. At that time I was taking an art history class, and I fell in love with Ancient Greek sculpture. I admired sculptors like Polyclitus and Lysippus . I was obsessed with their talent and envied it to no end. I wanted to make art out of stone and marble, but I couldn’t, so I took a picture instead.
Location: Studio 130. This studio quickly became my second home in San Francisco. If you wanted to find me on a weekend, I was in Studio 130.
Wardrobe: In my first semesters with AAU I discovered a now famous photographer named Brooke Shaden. Shaden has made various inspirational videos about making art with what you have, and how you don’t need a big budget to make a memorable piece of art. Looking at her work, you will see many examples of what one can do with five dollars’ worth of yarn. That week my fifteen dollars went to five yards of white fabric, a flower crown that my mom made for me when I was ten years old, and my friend who was dancing with Lines Ballet here in SF.
Hair: I love red hair, because regardless of the shade, red hair always adds a beautiful hint of warmth and pop in any image. It stands out and looks elegant when combined with the correct colors.
Lighting: At this point I had just taken my first lighting class and I was still insecure about what I was doing. I knew very little and spent much of this semester working with a soft box out of fear of beauty dishes, grids, and umbrellas. There were so many rules, and I didn’t know what to do with them. So I stuck to what I knew, and that was overall soft, diffused light.
Post Production: The semester before this class I had created my first texture images that would quickly become my “signature” look among the photo students of AAU. Because it was what I knew at the time, it is what I created. My reasoning behind the aqua blue? I liked how it looked with my model’s red hair, and I hadn’t used it in an image before.
New Re-Touching: I wanted this image to look like a Greek sculpture that was coming to life in the middle of a romantic Italian vineyard. I decided on using orange trees in order to honor the Medici family, who’s patron symbol was an orange, and I added a textured finish because I wanted the image to embody the look of ancient Roman fresco’s.
Personal Emotional Response: Back in 2013 I liked this image, but I knew that it wasn’t special, which is why it never landed a slot on my website. Now that I have re-edited it, I feel that it makes more of a statement and embodies the idea that I had envisioned all those years ago.
To view the final edit, click on the link below.
http://www.aliciamblairphotography.com/untitled-gallery#e-0
Retouching: Alicia M. Blair
Styling, MU, & Hair: Alicia & Susana Blair
Model: Rachel Baird
Thanks for reading!
Alicia M. Blair