For a few months I worked on a series of portraits for Salt Lake County called, “Faces of Salt Lake County.” These images were showcased in a gallery show and accompanying art book.
The county had interviewed a number of people – mostly immigrants – and gathered their stories, then hired me to create the portraits. I did a number of sessions over a few months with custom lighting, setting up a portable studio at the county building. I individually photographed each person for about 5 minutes, custom lighting each one to quickly get powerful images that emphasized character and personality.
I custom printed 25 of the main portraits as 30 inch prints for the gallery show, and second set of smaller images as well. Plus the images were all printed in an art book along with the stories of each individual.
The images turned out wonderfully and I was excited to see all my hard work displayed at the gallery show in April, where we also unveiled the book. The gallery show was put on by Mayor Jenny Wilson’s Book and Media Club.
The portraits and art project was showcased by the TV news at the time, and I was interviewed by a local paper.
When the project first started, I scheduled three different photo days in Salt Lake over a series of weeks to make sure we could photograph everyone. I set up a portable studio which included a solid, neutral background and a series of studio lights and modifiers. As each person came, I looked for parts of their personality to bring out and highlight, and lit everyone with a unique artsy style using a tight, directional light to show character.
The results are fantastic. I can’t share how excited I am to have these images published in a book and on display for the gallery show.
I have more to post about this project, and will do so in the next article coming up. But in the meantime, it’s fall and the leaves in the canyon are perfect, and fading fast. If you’d like some beautiful family portraits in the fall leaves, now’s the time. Give me a call at 801-728-3317.
Until next time, America.