seeking inspiration for environmental portraits of quilter and her work

<p>Next week I'm doing a photo shoot for a woman who makes these beautiful, brilliantly colorful quilts. Some of it is pretty straightforward, but the shots that have me sweating are:</p>

<p>1. shots showing her at work in her studio.</p>

<p>2. shots showing parts of her home, and her other collections, in a way that ties it back to her personal creative sense.</p>

<p>3. shots showing the extent of her finished work, and others showing the volume of her raw materials--probably ten thousand square yards of different fabrics.</p>

<p>I've spent quite a lot of time in a futile search for inspiration online. Ideas? Books? Websites? Anyone?</p>

<p>Arnold Newman was a very influential environmental portrait photographer. That would be a great place to start.<br>

He photographed a number of artists in ways that referenced their work (Picasso, Hockney, etc.)<br>

When I think of this brief, I'm thinking of his portraits of Kenneth Noland http://www.answers.com/topic/kenneth-noland and David Ben-Gurion (politician) http://www.imageedu.com/Mode/UploadFiles/200611/20061129104051175.jpg<br>

Both subjects are presenting things and viewed in a wide angle perspective.<br>

These quilts are here babies. She is their creator. The emanate from her.<br>

You could do something like this (not from her mouth)<br>

http://firsthour.net/screenshots/katamari-damacy/katamari-damacy-king-of-all-cosmos-rainbow-suck.jpg<br>

but with her at the head of an undulating sea of quilted colours.<br>

Go as wide as you dare and have some fun.<br>

M</p>

 

<p>The concepts you've raised are well articulated, and there won't be any substitute for going there and shooting stuff, and seeing how it turns out. The tricky part here will be putting the graphic elements together in a way that makes sense. The quilts take up a lot of area, and you'll need to organize your shots to keep them manageable in size so they subordinate well to the other elements.</p>

<p>Your first shot might be a sea of quilting at bottom, with a long arm quilting machine at top left and an intent quilter's face and hands at top right. The second might be a quilt on a bed, with another displayed on the wall behind it, a third folded on the bed, a fourth being folded in the quilter's arms as she stands by the bed, and perhaps yet a fifth over the back of a rocking chair near the foot of the bed. Or possibly a quilt with a floral motif hanging over a bookshelf with a vase of flowers, with the quilter arranging the flowers and looking from them to the quilt. The third might be an unfinished quilt before the quilter, who stands or sits behind it with outstretched arms in a questioning pose, each arm draped with a zillion fabric samples. That sort of thing.</p>

<p>Your problem won't be getting the ideas to work. The tricky part will be getting the lighting right, with crosslighting that brings out the texture of the fabric, and just enough fill to keep the colors bright. Another tricky part will be keeping your quilter expressive and involved in the setup shots. The most effective way will be by collaboration--setting the problem before her, accepting her input, and clarifying the feeling the picture should have for the viewer. When you've got creative people, work with them.</p>

<p>Look closely at the composition, backgrounds and exposure in a food mag like Saveur. Their stories are more like photo essays and go to great lengths to explore the context,atmosphere and people behind the food. Worth a look.</p>