By December of of 2012, I’d found my artistic & spiritual home at Cary Ballet Conservatory. Especially in Theater.
Made this image on 12/12/12 at the Cary Arts Center. Didn’t realize she was my “Muse”. Stage Makeup and Street Clothes. Later, home at my desk, after downloading and backing up the photographs I’d made at rehearsal, I stared at this, with my Bourbon & Beer and realized :
- I loved it without knowing why.
- I had no idea why it looked this way.
- I understood nothing about light. Theater was a comfort zone, the lighting was just there. I was completely ignorant of lighting design and the properties of light!
Spent the next summer learning. Found the work of George Hurrell, another Painter turned Photographer. And Yousuf Karsh, whose work changed after he became involved with an actress and discovered theater lighting. And found my Lighting Bible – for free (Pages 135 through 140)!
And I spent the next 10 years trying to get it right. Haunted eBay:
Mole – Richardson Tungsten Fresnels
And found young dancers who were willing to let me try to make their portraits.
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