Portrait of RM with Heat
The brilliance of the sun on her and the chair and the piercing nature of her look were so intense that not only was it hard for her to open her eyes, it was hard for me to not be blinded while taking the photo.
Composition with Heat
3rd in a series on ‘night’. It was a very hot and humid night and I loved that she had
that sheen or glow of heat on her. I also loved the blue/red compositional element of
the door and wall behind her.
Business and Pleasure in the Sun
Back in 1982 my wife and I had returned to San Jose after a year in Michigan. We
basically were broke so we had to live with her parents while we got back on our feet.
We lived in the five bedroom house my wife had grown up in. My father in law and the
family in general did everything themselves; cars, roofs, water heaters, wiring,
etc. It didn’t matter what it was, if it could be done without having a pro do it, it
was done.
My brother in law was working on putting in a new shake shingle roof when I went up
onto the roof to document it for my father in law. I spied the pool next door and my
original thought was how nice it would be to cool off in it. While I was up there
the neighbor’s daughter came out and jumped in the pool, quickly got out and laid
down to sunbath. All of a sudden a completely cool image came into my view finder.
A hard at work roofer, all business (which he was, he was completely oblivious to the
woman swimming and sunbathing) and the woman, completely absorbed in her pleasure
activity. Snap away I did until I got this composition out of it. It is one of my
favorite photos from the beginning of my photography work.