Clothing CAN make the girl!

When she arrived for her portrait session, my Brazilian "neighbor, " Priscilla, had a top on that showed her bare arms. For an outdoor session, maybe you could get away with it but for an indoor session, it just didn't work. I tried different angles - low, high - tried positioning her differently, but whatever I did I couldn't keep my eye from finding the lighter colored skin of her arms.

Valerie, from France, where people just KNOW how to dress stylishly, loaned her the black top she had been wearing. What a difference a top can make! The neckline extended to the shoulders and suddenly there was a balance to the face before me. Dark hair, eyes and top with just enough neck and shoulder line to highlight the eyes. For my style, It's always about the eyes!

So with a little help from the "haute culture" French woman, a portrait was made. Thanks Valerie!

The World Comes Knocking

It was somewhere in the middle of our conversation that it dawned on me that I should ask to photograph them. Two young women from other continents had come to make my neighborhood theirs for a while. While we spoke, I could see their countries of origin in their features. With almond eyes, dark hair, and olive skin, Priscilla bore a smile that said all was right with the world. Visiting from Brazil, she had met Valerie, another traveler of the world at Alliance France'. Valerie's freckles, reddish hair and eyes that were as gentle as a breeze, spoke of the fresh, clean look of Europe. She absolutely bubbled when we talked. So when I asked to make portraits of them, they agreed. I was energized!

How lucky to have the world come knocking on my studio door that day! While shooting, we laughed, shared travel stories and I listened to them speak of home and their families that they would soon be reunited with. Young, traveling the world, learning the ways of Americans - how lucky they were to experience us, and we them! This is one of my favorite images of Valerie. Tomorrow, Priscilla.