Portrait Inspiration

 Philippe Halsman

By: Amanda Schaeffer

            I chose Philippe Halsman as my inspiration for my portrait assignment. When going over the portrait presentation, I specifically liked this portrait of Bobby Fischer that Halsman captured. I like how he visually placed the chess piece in front of his eye so we really focus on the other one. A lot of photographers capture this unique perspective of covering an eye of the person they are capturing. Which really intrigues me since I want to do more senior portraits for my career. So, I thought I would do this project on this specific technique that Philippe Halsman did on Bobby Fischer.

            Becca and I went to Brandon Park to capture our portraits for this assignment. I knew I needed my inspiration to be of Halsman's photo of Bobby Fischer. Also, I wanted to pick my inspiration based off of what I would use when I would capture senior portraits. I had a vision in mind that Becca would either hold or stand behind things to cover one of her eyes. I think it's a dramatic but significant look when you only see one eye in the photograph. I made Becca hold up a colorful leave in front of her eye to capture that unique look. My inspiration had me thinking of other objects or materials to place in front of her eye so I can capture that Philippe Halsman photograph. I got to realize that if Becca stuck out her hand like she pointing at something, that could capture what I was envisioning. I told her to graceful stick out her hand freely to cover her other eye with her finger. I took a couple of shots however because I didn't know how I wanted it placed. I didn't know if i wanted one finger or a couple to hide her eye. When she got more relaxed and not uptight, I got a great photograph of her hand gracefully floating with a finger covering her eye. It might not be as significant as a chess piece, but it gives the inspiration a new meaning for my work. The final photo I wanted it to be something different than her covering her eye with something, more like placing her somewhere that will cover it for her. That's when I decided to grow my inspiration and tell her to stand behind a tree. I knew the tree would cover her eye and a big chunk of her face too. However, I don't want to copy my inspiration, but to elaborate and make them unique for my own work. The three covered her eye and also half of her face to make it that dramatic look that Philippe Halsman captured with Bobby Fischer. It might not be a material thing that she is holding but it's something different that I thought would fit my inspiration. I enjoyed making my inspirational portraits with Becca and finding new, creative ways to make it my own.

            I'm glad I chose Philippe Halsman as my inspirational photographer for this assignment. It let me get creative on what I wanted to do with Becca and how I wanted to place things in front of her eyes. I gave my own spin on it and did unique touches to make it more of my own piece. I wanted to use my photography style as a soon to be senior portrait photograph to make my own portraits while also using inspiration. While Bobby Fischer had importance of what was in front of his eye, Becca had natural and material things that she felled up or went behind something to cover her eye. I had a lot of fun shooting these portraits and having the creativity yet inspiration to make these beautiful photos.