Portrait Obscura

 

I’ve been working with models this winter, a new endeavor for me. The models keep me on my toes as I need to be prepared with ideas and the appropriate gear. While shooting the lovely Kate, pictured above in a vintage commode, I had an idea. What if I tried to make portraits with the subject’s face obscured in some way? Kate is only 17, and I really didn’t want to splash her face all over Instagram, so I tried making pictures of her without her face, and I started calling the series Portrait Obscura. Below is a gallery of some of these images of Kate, Suzi, Mike, Tom, and Carol. It’s been cold winter here on Cape Cod, but as it begins to warm up, I hope to make more Portrait Obscuras outside in natural light using various scrims. As the series progresses, I’ll post updates.