I received a phone call from
Stoneleigh Burnham School - an independent boarding and day school in Greenfield, MA - asking if I could take a portrait of an alumnus of theirs. Joan Hutton Landis is the 2013 recipient of their Distinguished Alumna Award. As the school detailed,
"The Distinguished Alumna Award is presented annually and bestows institutional recognition on one alumna who has distinguished herself in her personal or professional life, in her intellectual pursuits, or in her dedication to service of community, country or society. Joan was nominated and selected to receive the award due to her outstanding (and lengthy) career in the humanities. She began teaching at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia in 1977 and founded that school's Department of Liberal Arts, which she chaired until 2009. She taught English Literature and published poetry during her tenure."
I had the opportunity to go down and photograph Joan - in her home - a number of weeks ago. I thought it might be fun to walk you through my session a bit. I wish I had known I was going to make this a bit of a tutorial, because I didn't take any wide shots to show you the environment. But I feel very happy with the final image chosen, which will be used in the SBS's alumni magazine this summer.
When I arrived, Joan and I walked into their sitting room. There were quite a few couches and single chairs. On one long wall there were numerous tall windows with a window seat (would love to have that in my home). Across from that wall was a bookshelf, the opening to the foyer, and a bench of sorts. Along the short wall at one end was a large stone fireplace and along the opposite wall was a couch and some wall hangings, with a window on the right side of the wall.
Joan let me know that people often like to take pictures with the bookshelf in the background. I asked if we could pull the couch away from the bookshelf to give some dimension, and that's where we started. This is one of the first images I took - a nice straight shot of her. But her shoulders were broad and I knew she hadn't yet relaxed in front of the camera.
There was light from the windows on the left side of her face. While I liked this set up, I knew we'd take some with different backgrounds. We took a bunch more frames of her near the bookshelf, but then I rotated her so the short wall would be behind her. I didn't quite like the distraction of the window, the window frame behind her head, nor the purple behind her on the right, though it did complement the sweater. It was simply too busy.
Here's a similar image, but I was trying to get Joan to lean a bit, so as to get a different angle. Still not there yet.
Then Joan mentioned she had a different top to change into, as I had suggested she have some options. So she changed her sweater, leaving on the black turtleneck. She also mentioned she had a gold necklace on and pulled that out from under the turtleneck. I left her where she was and took another image, not having her lean as much and letting some of the light hit her face a bit more on the left.
We rotated her yet again so she'd be sitting with the opposite short wall behind her - where the fireplace was. In all of the previous images, I was shooting with my 50mm 1.4 lens. I wasn't liking some of the distortion it was creating, and I knew I wanted to be 'closer' to her. I decided at this time to switch out for my fav lens -- my 70-200mm 2.8. I asked Joan to stand and wondered what that would do to the image. While I like this a bit more, I still wasn't satisfied.
I noticed there was a bouquet of fresh flowers in a vase near the windows, and stuck it in the background. I knew it'd be blurred out, but knew it'd create some kind of wonder behind her and I asked her to sit again. By now she had warmed up to the camera, and I backed up quite a bit, zoomed in to 200mm and knew - as soon as I looked on the back of my camera - that I had my 'hero' image.
I love that there is some understanding of items behind her, but for all we know, she could be in one of a hundred locations. Behind her to the left is the vase of flowers. Knowing that, you can see the green stems and the pink flowers. It adds a pop of color, but you'd likely not know it was flowers. I love how Joan is the emphasis in this one...clearly the subject of the image. Her shoulders are relaxed and the sweater and necklace are laying nicely.
I warmed up the image a bit, and this photo has become one of my most favorite images I've ever taken. There is a priceless beauty to this image. And to know a bit of Joan's story - the impact she has had on education - leaves me wishing I knew her better. I know there are so many stories behind her smile - countless lives she's affected, knowledge she's imparted into the lives of young people, and countless people who have likely looked up to her as colleague, boss, role model, teacher, and friend.
Joan and her husband lived in the Middle East for quite a few years before returning to the States in 1967. Read more of Joan's biography by visiting
Penstroke Press. Here's a woman who's surely left her mark on society.
Joan, it was a pleasure meeting and photographing you. I wish you all the best. Thanks for your significant contribution; you are so very deserving of this fine award from Stoneleigh Burnham. Thanks also to Susanna for setting this up, as well as
Pete Chilton - an instructor of mine while at Hallmark - who recommended me for the shoot.
