2009 Best Figure Study – Mark Laurie
Award winners, Featured members August 4th, 2009
“Fade Rose” by Mark Laurie, MPA, SPA
I love texture, aged texture. It makes you wonder about how it got that way, what its secrets are. A huge collection of aged, dirty, wrinkled and ripped papers reside on my computer. It was fun finding the perfect match for Christy’s image.
Some images begin their lives with a clear end image in mind. It’s a simple matter of putting elements in place to reconstruct what the mind holds into reality.
Faded Rose began with more of a sense of what I wanted to create, so it became a process of intuition and exploration. I started with this image of Christy. She projected a wonderful sense of elegance, fitness and youth. The counter point that made her image unusual and interesting was her shaved head.
Her shaved head removed any contemporary sense or time frame from the image. It was timeless. By not looking at the camera she brought a private moment sense to the image.
The paper selection was important since it would embody the “character” of the image. The great thing about working digital is you can trial and error easily. The paper selection was obvious the moment it was laid into the image. Tweaking some filters brought out the aged grunge nature of the paper and made Christy part of the material.
It needed something to personalize it, so the handwriting was added in.
The brownish tint to the image was the final touch to the image. This kept the image inline with the timeless sense I was working towards.
Mark Laurie is a Calgary photographer specializing in personal female portraiture. He holds several International Photographer of the Year awards. His 4th photography book, Nude in Paradise, has just been released.
You can see more of Mark’s work at:
Inner Spirit Photography
Website: www.innerspiritphoto.com
Email: markl@inner-spirit.com
Phone: 403-252-2662
Popularity: 97%
August 4th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
Beautiful picture and composition. That is why you get so good reviews and awards.
The topic is difficult: nude! But art makes it so wonderful without the moralistic objections you get when mentioning the subject!
Regards,
Mario E.
August 4th, 2009 at 4:04 pm
Stunning photo, I wish I had been to the convention to see the original. Great work as usual Mark, Best Regards!
January 7th, 2010 at 9:19 am
Looks Like a real treasure.
August 8th, 2011 at 8:50 pm
Mark is fantastic.