Photography by Sandra Howard
This photograph a photo of me, shot over 9 years ago at age 17 (2001) while churning through another portrait drawing. The photograph I am drawing from was an original portrait of a child from my Mom’s home daycare service. The camera used to take the shot was a Pentax MX film body. It took additional time to have your work processed the “old-fashioned” chemical way. Until I found this photograph, I had lost memory of ever having created this piece.
Give or take ten years ago, I went through a phase of drawing human figures. As a right-handed artist myself, my left hand would sit day by day, just begging to be recognized. One day the light caught my hand in the most perfect way, so I took the opportunity to record it.
I grabbed a nearby charcoal and drew every shadow and highlight detail I saw. The drawing was completed using black and white charcoal pencils.
Handling life in your own hands? This painting brings me back to the year 2000 in my own high school art class. Our project involved completion of a large-scale mural with the ability to choose our own subject matter. Upon completion, the size measurements of the piece estimated 6″ by 3″. If you look closely, you will notice that the light and shadow highlights on the hand actually indicate that this particular hand composition is virtually impossible to actually make in real life.
This original composition balances the complimentary colours, yellow and purple and is painted in acrylic paint. Many areas of the piece are actually painted using my fingers, while using a paint brush to finish off the edges.
In 2005, I Sandra Howard, shot my first digital SLR photograph on the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT. Remember theses? I do! Over the past 6 years, I have been through a variety of learning phases and an equally wide variety of camera bodies.
Proceeding in order, my first film body camera was a Pentax MX. Upon moving to a digital body, I bought a Canon PowerShot S500 point and shoot, followed by a more advanced point and shoot, the Canon PowerShot S50. I then went with a more advanced lens system on the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT. My passion for the hobby had me craving for more each day, eventually I treated myself by upgrading to the Canon EOS 20D. Today, I use both a Canon EOS 5D and a Canon EOS 5D Mark II in my work-flow.
During the final photo-shoot, 7-month old Sophia appeared delighted being set into a brown bum-sized bucket, especially upon our offering her a gorgeous single pink rose to hold. While having the opportunity to be so close to such a beautiful flower, Sophia never took her eyes off it. Judging by the expression in her eyes, Sophia had fallen in love.
As their baby photographer for this and the previous few sets, I want to leave warm thank you to Sophia’s parents and especially the adorable Miss Sophia herself.
