fstopinertia – photography of angela marklew

I recently had a workshop assignment to take a portrait while shooting through something.  I was inspired by an image by one of my favorite photographers, Platon…which depicts a model standing amidst vibrant red and purple leaves.  The leaves are casting amazing shadows on her face and because there is foliage in the foreground, mid-ground, and background, it’s an extremely layered image.

So I set out to Griffith Park (which is basically the only nature in this city) to find something suitable.  It quickly became apparent that lush colours and foliage were not part of the landscape.  It was at this point that I had a creative block.  I had something so specific that I wanted to do in my mind that I became locked into that idea and it didn’t seem like I’d be able to get past it.  In addition to this, I had planned on using natural light and as the sun was going behind a hill, clouds also started rolling in – which meant I was losing my light very quickly.  But, as a photographer, it’s my job to make things work.  So I picked up Linda (who was going to model for me) and I just had to improvise – and this is what I came up with:

Being forced to abandon what has been pre-visualized is a good exercise, it puts pressure on you to improvise while still being creative – and this is what helps you grow as a photographer.