The Release, Energy in Portraits | 2022 Self-Portrait Study

The first session of my 2022 Self-Portrait Study. A study with movement and energy in portraits.

Often times the concepts I start with don’t end up being the final results. With many instances the results far surpasing what I originally had in my mind. Others not so much. That is part of the process. Trial and error and learning from what works and doesn’t. Some would call that failing. I see it as learning in creation.

This creation process starting with the intangible vision, an energy of an idea. Is formed through the tools and skills into something that can be seen, felt and touched. It still amazes me that we can vividly see things in oir minds that are not in front of us… yet. Espeically as creatives who produce work visually.

Visions and ideas sometimes never leave us until they are brought to life. I have many ideas for portraits and images I want to create. Up until recently it has just been those ideas swirling around in my head. I had would get into spirals of planning, ideating, and sketching but not further than that. Pushing myself to harness that creative energy into creating images that fit my vision is the hurdle I am working on jumping. These portraits feel sums up that release of energy into the art we create. From slow leaks of ideas and blinding creative visions to full blown creating.

Feeling the enery in portraits is sometimes palpable and often leads to a favorite image. Even with my client sessions.

Energy can be different things and it’s more of a feeling for me. Sometimes the energy in portraits is intriguing, wanting to know more about the person in the image, sometimes its movement like this session. Other times it is an expression that has an energy to it.

The Process

It was just me, some fabric, a fan, and my wardrobe. I started with some other ideas that didn’t take and then moved to this one with the fabric under the hat. My camera connects to my phone so I can trigger it and see how it looks in the camera. I set the focus hit the button to trigger the 3-second timer, closed my eyes, and threw the fabric. Swiftly bringing my arm back down so the fabric would be caught in the fan and flutter about. Needless to say, my arm was a little tired from all the fabric throwing to get the right shot.

I later combined a few fabric pieces from different images to create the best-looking fabric flow. Which took a lot longer than I thought it would get it to look just right.