Week 7

Ruth is 95 years old. On March 7th she will be 96. She lives in an apartment on her own. She has almost lost her eyesight and her hearing is nothing to brag about either. She used to watch The Bold and the Beautiful every day. She used to solve a lot of crossword puzzles. She used to read. She used to make delicious food. She used to do a lot of gardening. She used to have a lot of stories to tell. She still has a lot of stories to tell. Her long term memory is fantastic. Better than mine, I’d say. She’s a great woman with a huge and strong heart. She’s brave and courageous, kind and gentle. She’s my heroine, my grandmother.

I knew from the beginning of this project that I wanted to shoot grandma’s hands this week. I’ve always loved her hands. I think they’re beautiful.

WEEK 7 - Portrait: Faceless - Tell someone's story without showing their face.

"The Hands of My Heroine"
ISO 100 - 100mm - f/2,8 - 1/200sec

I took the picture by her kitchen table. I think she was a bit uncomfortable in the beginning, but also flattered that I wanted to shoot her hands. She quickly warmed up and I couldn’t have asked for a better model. I had a black rain cape as background and a speedlight pointed right at her hands. I wanted a sharp contrast between her hands and the background, but I chose a shallow DoF to make the transition softer. I’ve adjusted the photo in Lightroom and Silver Efex Pro 2.

Week 4

Last week I met this little dude for the first time. He was then exactly one week old. He is adorable, cute as a button, sweet as his mom and cool as his dad. A perfect little human being... 10 fingers, 10 toes, two eyes, two ears and one nose. Amazing.

Anyway I shot Stellan (that's his name), in poor light with the ISO cranked up quite high, with my Fujifilm X-T1. The processing I did in LR and Silver Efex Pro 2. The tiny man kept moving, so it was quite challenging to get a sharp enough shot. I wanted his forehead to be all wrinkly. And his mouth to be wide open. And for his hand not to be in front of his face. It took "a few tries" but I got what I wanted.

Week 4 - Portrait: Headshot - You shot a selfie, now shoot a "selfie" of someone else!

"Meet Stellan"
ISO 3200 - 35mm - f/2 - 1/125sec

The challenge was to shoot a selfie of someone else... This got me all confused. Again. I thought, and still do, that the word selfie comes from self portrait, a picture of oneself that oneself takes, makes or paints. One can't take a selfie of someone else. Or did I get the whole thing wrong...?

Italia BW

19.10.2012 - Caorle

22.10.2012 - Venezia

18.2.2013 - Vittorio Veneto

Dario