Monday, May 25, 2009

Captured Passion

The other day, we were at the grocery store, and met Tiny. She was standing in the aisle, and although I don’t remember the comment that started the conversation, soon we’d been standing there for ten minutes, talking and laughing together. She is a writer/poet, and was interested in getting some of her work seen. We had just published our books, so we invited her over so we could talk more in depth about her work, and give her some leads to help her in her searches. She doesn’t have a computer (I know, we were shocked, too) so she had no idea there were various publishing sites available.
Tiny arrived at our place, book bag in tow, stuffed with notebooks, paper falling out of them. We sat in our living room and talked for quite a while, sharing stories and making a new friend.
While she was sitting there, talking to me, I noticed Robert kept looking at her, like he was studying her. She kept talking, her expressions animated. Her life is filled with pain, both emotional and physical, yet this strong woman still has a streak of confidence and happiness. A plain looking woman, however her passion sparks a special beauty in her. He saw that, and wanted to capture it. I asked her if she was interested in getting some pictures taken, and I explained the basics of stock photography to her. She was interested, so we planned a shoot and I gave her a contract to take home and read over with her husband. We talked more about her work, and I gave her some pointers on how to organize herself.
We discussed Tiny long after she left. Not sure that we could jump straight into commercial photography, he decided to run some test shots on her, to see how she worked with him and the camera. Some people are naturals in front of the camera, and some need to loosen up a little. Besides, he wanted to see if he could capture some of what he saw.
She showed up for the shoot, excited to be getting real pictures done. When we went through them at the end, she was floored and excited. She had never seen herself like that before. We feel they capture her quite well.
This is Tiny, her beauty, her softness, and her essence.










1 comment:

beth pulsipher said...

Tiny is gorgeous. These photos speak volumes.

Robert, you've outdone yourself. Keep shooting Tiny - she has such softness, such luminosity - what a fabulous model she is!

:) b