"Doris Donley, a childhood sexual abuse survivor, photographed at her home in Colorado Springs Monday, Sept. 8, 2008. Donley now serves as a resource to other victims through a workshop, "Beyond Abuse," that she helped organize and run." The Gazette, Justin Edmonds
There hasn't been much exciting going on around here and even with the day off today I decided to lay low. I did want to post this portrait that finally ran this week. When I got the assignment I have to admit that I was a little nervous because the subject matter was rather touchy. However when I was greeted at the door by Doris I quickly realized that it would be a much better experience than I had anticipated. She admitted that she was a little nervous but that is often the case so I wasn't too rattled.
I wanted to learn a little bit about Doris's personality before I made my images because I thought that it would help me relay a message on to the readers. We sat down in her living room for a few minutes just talking about the program that she helped develop and how she is using that as a medium to help other victims cope with their experiences.
As we chatted my mind began to develop several portrait idea that I thought would work. They all involved lighting her with either hard light or semi-soft light from a beauty dish. Neither of those scenarios happened though because I couldn't get my pocket wizards to fire the lights. I later found out this week that it was a firmware problem and after re-installing the previous firmware I haven't had any problems.
I had to quickly think on my feet while still holding conversation with the subject. The last thing I wanted to happen was for her to get rattled because I couldn't get my equipment to work.
The living room had huge glass windows and it was an overcast day so I opened them all up, asked her to sit on the couch as she usually would and shot wide open with my 85 to try and isolate her from some distracting elements in the room. After working it for a minute or two I decided to go outside and get a different look. I asked her where she usually sits outside and she quickly pointed to a bench in the front yard that she and her husband sit on regularly.
I posed her only enough to provide her with a little direction and then continued to shoot wide open with the 85. I really tried to work this environment quickly as possible and thankfully the soft light from the overcast day and green trees and bushes in her neighbors yard really worked well with her blue sweater and skin tone.
While I was packing up my gear in the living room we had a few more minutes to talk about her family and Colorado Springs. I was honored when she thanked me and said that I made the experience comfortable for her. Working with a subject has been one of the toughest things that I have had to learn as a photographer and that little comment, unbeknown to her, was a huge confidence boost in my ability to work with a portrait subject.
I had to overcome touchy subject matter and equipment failure and I passed the assignment with flying colors. The image may not be the most spectacular portrait in the world but it was an assignment that taught me something and I can be proud of that.
Week three at The Gazette starts tomorrow and I'm anxious to see what the week brings me.
-JCE
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