Laszlo Bencze Offline Upload & Sell: Off
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My previous post of a stern man which I called "My Ugly Portrait" attracted much comment. So this time I want to talk about photographing a subject who is inherently beautiful. Dahlia was due to be married the following year so I began her wedding pictures at St. Olaf College in Minnesota where was a student at the time. This picture was taken on a walking path near the college campus on a warm September day.
http://laszlophoto.smugmug.com/photos/i-nPWxHFf/0/O/i-nPWxHFf.jpg
I liked the yellow flowers so I just asked her to stand by them and "do something." The rest was all her choice. The picture didn't really need any further help from me or from Photoshop. When a person possesses beauty at this level, there's little need for enhancement.
The next day I decided to do some street photography in a Minneapolis neighborhood with Dahlia and her fiancé, Nick. A rainstorm blew over us but I kept taking pictures.
http://laszlophoto.smugmug.com/photos/i-kzc9HJr/0/O/i-kzc9HJr.jpg
The background of blurred street signs and cars gives the picture a genuine urban feel without being distracting. I love the big wet splotches on Nick's T shirt. But of course the point of the picture is the embrace. Moments like these don't have to be over dramatized. They don't have to be taken in formal gardens or sandy beaches or against setting suns. They can happen in unglamorous settings and still be beautiful. Besides, this is a picture that will forever remind them of their student lives. It's just the simple truth.
After the rain stopped, the sky was still cloudy and streets drenched. I noticed an interesting effect as we crossed the street and asked her to stop. Dahlia gave me a very direct, very penetrating gaze that I thought was intensely lovely. I liked the way it counterpointed the waiting cars. So this picture resulted.
http://laszlophoto.smugmug.com/photos/i-SkBJpVS/0/O/i-SkBJpVS.jpg
It is, I think, the most revealing picture I took of her during the course of the entire wedding. Here she is: a Nordic beauty embedded within her time and her personal history. A good picture, a truthful picture should not look strained, excessive, overindulgent. It should not make the viewer think about the photographer and his clever technique. I think that as Dahlia looks back at her album years from now and encounters this picture, she will recognize her self, her youthful loveliness, her confidence, her anticipation, and her remembrance of the city. She won’t be thinking of me and that’s as it should be.
Now let’s fast forward to the following year and her wedding in Pennsylvania. The wedding preparations, the ceremony, the reception are all over. There are a few lingering guests. Dahlia is fatigued but still alert. I see in her a mood reminiscent of what I saw on the street in Minneapolis months before. I push several candles over to her and by their light take this, the last picture of the event.
http://laszlophoto.smugmug.com/photos/i-GdNzZtH/0/O/i-GdNzZtH.jpg
Yes, I do own many thousands of dollars worth of strobe lights, light stands, sophisticated tripods and ball heads, gold lamé reflectors. I did not use any of those in taking these four pictures. I relied on the vast array of great photography in the gallery of my mind and years of practice in good seeing.
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