SkipCohenUniversity
  • Home
  • SCU Blog
  • Our Podcasts
  • About Us

the SCU Blog

The Making of a Favorite Portrait

3/7/2016

1 Comment

 
Picture
Image by Elena Hernandez. From her website.
Picture
I shared this image once last year in a Throwback Thursday post, but being back at the Signature Hotel in Las Vegas this week, I had forgotten what a stroke of creative brilliance the artist had in her vision.

Elena Hernandez captured this portrait at WPPI in 2010. She was working on a project for Graphi and WPPI doing portraits of people in the industry. The image above is one of my favorites.

Elena's vision was to capture the essence of each subject in a portrait. This was six months before Sheila and I were married. Sheila was and is today a very big part of my life and Elena wanted to pull her into the shot. We later printed it on metal. With the exception of it missing Elena's signature, it's perfect. Because it's displayed with the simplicity of a flat table stand and no frame, it's an unusual piece of art in our home and guests always comment.

But here's where Elena defines the word "professional". I decided to grab a couple of shots of the lobby this morning. I really had forgotten how creative Elena's mind's eye was working that day.

The entryway where she set up the portrait is 24 feet across with mirrors at either end. It's the front of Tower One and there are people walking through constantly.

Picture
At either end are two mirrors. There's a chair on one side, where I was sitting. On the other side was the other mirror and the only things Elena moved were the chair slightly and the decorative plate on the table. Hard to believe the entry way hasn't changed in six years!
Picture
Picture
In order to bring in just a little more light, she had an assistant, our mutual friend Tamara Young, popping in just a little more light with a reflector.

Interested in seeing more of Elena's work? Check out her website for some stunning images. I also shared a post last year with several of her images from the same convention.

When it comes to photographs of ourselves, we all become consumers, no different than the profiles of many clients. In fact, we're tougher than most clients will ever be.  It's a pretty amazing thing when an artist not only fulfills our expectations, but exceeds them.

​It's even better when it's a good friend who creates a memory.
1 Comment
Elena link
3/8/2016 11:05:03 am

Skip
I am often reminded of the line from 'man from la mancha'
"Some see life as it is,I see life as it aught to be"
My vision through out life when photographing clients is to capture real mood & expression, then adding who they are in that reality moment in time.
As I was setting this shot up, I kept noticing how when you spoke to Sheila that your,entire being lit up and glowed with love.
I saw the teenager that you were and wanted to capture that moment forever.
I really love that you cherish this image. Because this,is,who you are,a,man in love.

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Your walk is just a click away
    Picture
    Picture

      Sign Up for Our Newsletter!

    Subscribe to Our Newsletter

    Our Partners

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    "Why?"

    Check out "Why?" one of the most popular features on the SCU Blog. It's a very simple concept - one image, one artist and one short sound bite. Each artist shares what makes the image one of their most favorite. We're over 130 artists featured since the project started. Click on the link above and you can scroll through all of the episodes to date.

    Categories

    All
    Alzheimer's
    Beyond Technique
    Business
    Business Breakthroughs
    Clean Up Series
    Customer Service
    EDU10
    Excire
    F64 Lunch Bunch
    Faculty
    Fast Food Friday
    Guest Post
    Humor And Sarcasm
    Hump Day
    In The News
    Lessons Learned
    Lighting
    Luminar
    Lumix
    Marketing
    Mark's Corner
    Mind Your Own Business
    Miscellaneous
    Motivational
    One Step At A Time
    Photodex
    PhotoShelter
    PhotoTexting
    Platypod
    Podcasts
    Profoto
    Sales
    Search
    Skylum
    Social Media
    Sunday Morning Reflections
    Tamron
    Tamron Recipes
    Technique
    Throwback Thursday
    Wedding Photography
    Westcott
    Why?

Categories​

Business
Marketing
Technique
Sales
Fast Food Fridays
​

Podcasts

Tamron Recipes 
Beyond Technique
Why?
Mind Your Own Business
Pro Photographer Journey

 Partners

Tamron
Photofocus

​Lumix

Marathon Press
​Platypod
©  2019 Skip Cohen University
  • Home
  • SCU Blog
  • Our Podcasts
  • About Us