It's all in the Details
“A portrait is not made in a camera, but on either side of it.” - Edward Steichen (influential Luxembourgish American photographer, painter, and curator).
When it was my fortieth birthday, some many moons ago, as a gift to myself I commissioned a portrait of myself by a well-known and highly regarded society painter. I decided to wear a theatre jacket I had designed myself, made of Japanese silver and white brocade featuring a pattern of chrysanthemums in hexagons which I wore to a charity ball earlier that year, and I am holding one of my Great Grandmother’s tortoiseshell handled dyed ostrich feather Court fans from 1923. I sat for the artist in three separate day sittings, and she also took photographs of me. I asked her to pay particular attention to my costume, which I am very proud of, and also my jewellery, as I was wearing a mixture of inherited antique family rings and gifts from family for significant birthdays. The rings included an Art Deco cocktail ring of garnets and pearls, several gold and diamond rings, including my Great Grandmother’s engagement ring from the end of the Nineteenth Century, and an Art Deco diamond and sapphire ring set in platinum from Vienna. Not only did the portrait capture my likeness well, it is beautiful, and she has authentically captured the details of my costume and my jewellery.
The theme for "Looking Close on Friday" the 22nd of August is "details of a painting" which requires me to photograph things people may miss unless you get up close to it; not the entire painting. When I read the theme, I immediately thought of my fortieth birthday portrait. Although I have several other portraits painted for significant years of my life, this is by far the biggest and hangs just inside the entrance to my house, welcoming guests across the threshold. Being the biggest, it is the one where one could potentially miss those fine details, and because I was especially pleased with the artist’s reproduction of my costume and my jewellery, I have decided to focus on them for this week’s theme. I hope you like my choice, and that it makes you smile!
It's all in the Details
“A portrait is not made in a camera, but on either side of it.” - Edward Steichen (influential Luxembourgish American photographer, painter, and curator).
When it was my fortieth birthday, some many moons ago, as a gift to myself I commissioned a portrait of myself by a well-known and highly regarded society painter. I decided to wear a theatre jacket I had designed myself, made of Japanese silver and white brocade featuring a pattern of chrysanthemums in hexagons which I wore to a charity ball earlier that year, and I am holding one of my Great Grandmother’s tortoiseshell handled dyed ostrich feather Court fans from 1923. I sat for the artist in three separate day sittings, and she also took photographs of me. I asked her to pay particular attention to my costume, which I am very proud of, and also my jewellery, as I was wearing a mixture of inherited antique family rings and gifts from family for significant birthdays. The rings included an Art Deco cocktail ring of garnets and pearls, several gold and diamond rings, including my Great Grandmother’s engagement ring from the end of the Nineteenth Century, and an Art Deco diamond and sapphire ring set in platinum from Vienna. Not only did the portrait capture my likeness well, it is beautiful, and she has authentically captured the details of my costume and my jewellery.
The theme for "Looking Close on Friday" the 22nd of August is "details of a painting" which requires me to photograph things people may miss unless you get up close to it; not the entire painting. When I read the theme, I immediately thought of my fortieth birthday portrait. Although I have several other portraits painted for significant years of my life, this is by far the biggest and hangs just inside the entrance to my house, welcoming guests across the threshold. Being the biggest, it is the one where one could potentially miss those fine details, and because I was especially pleased with the artist’s reproduction of my costume and my jewellery, I have decided to focus on them for this week’s theme. I hope you like my choice, and that it makes you smile!