Once upon a time, there was a Venetian merchant who commissioned an artist to paint his lover’s portrait. Something like that.
A 400-year-later version goes like this. A successful young entrepreneur reached out to a photographer to present his girlfriend with a romantic birthday gift of photography art. That’s unique and courteous!
On Young Subjects
A matter of fact, young people under 25 rarely approach photographers directly. When we work with them, it is usually parents who treat them on such occasions like birthdays and graduations. Modeling portfolios are another path but the younger ones again come through parents or agencies, and the older ones may get enough from the shoots they are hired for. And, there was one very young couple who did a romantic photoshoot with me just for fun, for no reason.
This leads us to the uniqueness of this story. A boyfriend is treating his young love to an art-centric personalized experience that she may not get to for another decade or so! The irony of our lives is that most of the ladies approaching photographers for their own beauty shoots are no longer in their 20s. They can finally splurge. I’ll skip the beaten notion that beauty does not age. Will simply state that it’s sad that only few people get photography art done professionally while young, resorting to selfies or friends’ phones. By “professionally”, I mean by those experienced with the light, posing, and composition. 🙂
Venetian Merchant
Back to our creative man. You may even remember him: he hired me to get a few powerful business portraits of himself. Right before that fierce shoot, he asked me if I do gift certificates for photoshoots. Such was his awesome idea for his girlfriend’s birthday! I do them so promptly sent him one.
This was back in February. I got in touch with Anna after she received the gift certificate but we delayed the shoot, as many others in 2020. In October we were finally ready to materialize that romantic birthday gift of photography art.
Unwrapping the Gift
The day was warm and beautiful. I shot an engagement session in New Jersey in the morning (next blog post, possibly), then crossed the bridge to the Fort Tryon Park near the Cloisters. We spent two hours walking around it with Anna and her mom who was a great assistant. Her help was particularly timely when Anna had to change three dresses in the bushes… When shooting, I took advantage of the setting sun breaking through the cloud patches but also used the off-camera flash.
With the young lady’s timeless beauty and grace, sometimes I really felt like painting! When placed in the right light, angles, and the surroundings, the process was instilling a sensation of creating a Renaissance portrait. Look at those shots on the rocks and the finale!
Anna was elated about the experience. I don’t know about you but I believe a romantic birthday gift of photography art is a noteworthy idea with a lasting impact unlike many ordinary gifts. Regardless of the age or gender. If you can see your loved one taken care of as in the images below, hit me up for your gift certificate, too. I’ll take 10% off it in the next 7 days.
Kindly refrain from re-uploading images to social media during the first week of feature. Share instead and give credit to @ZorzStudios.
