I love to travel and I love to make portraits of the people
I meet along the way. It’s always special, but these portraits are extra
special because this is my grand Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Ken. Aunt Bonnie is my grandpa’s
sister, the aunt of my dad and his siblings. She’s always lived in Alaska since
I’ve known her and we don’t see her very often as a result, even though she’s
always been special because she’s the much younger and better looking only
sister of my grandpa and their brother. Bonnie and Ken graciously hosted my
cousin and I on our great Alaskan roadtrip when we were in Fairbanks for a day
and a half, showing us some warm Alaskan hospitality. They gave us the family
treatment, complete with hot breakfasts for two mornings and two hot showers
each. It was a relief after driving relentlessly for just over 4 days. They
shared some fantastic stories about my grandpa and my dad’s generation, and
they made time to sit for me briefly before taking us out to dinner. I’m very
happy to have been able to make these portraits of my family and these
portraits will always remind me of the importance of having beautiful photos of
the people you love, and I’ll never take it for granted. Thank you for sitting
for me Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Ken, and thanks for the hospitality you showed us!
Tips for photographers: These photos are lit using window
light with no modifiers of any kind. The room was basically white, but we
closed all of the other windows and doors and there was enough distance behind
the subject for the light to falloff into black. This was only possible because
I made the falloff extremely fast by placing the subject as close to the light
source as possible, which was basically in my lap. Yes these were intimate
portraits in more ways than one. Looking back at these photos I noticed they
looked a little different, with Ken’s having more contrast and detail and
Bonnie’s being a little softer. The apertures are 2.8 for Ken and 2.2 for
Bonnie, so I thought that was it. But then I noticed that I actually changed
lenses between these two portraits (which seems crazy remembering how fast
these were made), using the Zeiss 55mm 1.8 for Ken and the Zeiss Loxia 35mm 2
for Bonnie. The differences are pretty obvious so I’ll just leave it up to you
to decide which look you prefer.
www.portraits.paulbellinger.com
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