Marion • 45 Second Portrait

Marion

Marion is a student at New England College who was with a group of other NEC students attending a lecture at the New Hampshire Institute of Art.  I was sitting in the back row of seats when I saw his hat across the room, and instantly wanted to take a portrait of him.  While people were still finding their seats, I ran out to the car and grabbed my camera bag.

After the lecture ended and as people were standing up to leave, I ran over to him.  "Hi, I'm Sid.  I'm a photographer, and I love your hat.  I'm wondering if you'd allow me to take a portrait of  you?"

"Sure!" he said.

I didn't want to take up much of his time, and I didn't want to fiddle around with flashes or anything, so I grabbed Marion, brought him out into the hallway outside of the NHIA auditorium and positioned him underneath one of the ceiling lights.  He tilted his head just so that the light from the ceiling touched his nose and mouth.  I had him close his eyes.  I found my exposure, and grabbed about six shots, and then thanked him and let him go.

I love this shot.  So simple.  So elegant.  45 seconds.  Sometimes everything is pretty much already lined up and all you need to do is arrange the elements so they completely fall into place.

Thank you, Marion.