Creating professional portraits with good lighting in the work setting is a very important part of my job. For me, my client’s satisfaction and enjoyment in the finished portrait is what makes my work worthwhile.
One of my favorite clients is the Cleve Carney Museum of Art at the College of Dupage in Glen Ellyn. Justin, the Gallery Director and Curator, and I have work together on multiple projects to document the museum’s exhibitions. Most recently, Justin has been working on an exciting new exhibition Frida Khalo: Timeless that highlights the career of the artist and the importance of the Mexico City art scene in the mid-20th century.
The exhibition was scheduled to open in the spring of 2020 and due to the pandemic the exhibition was put on hold. This much anticipated exhibition will open in the museum’s newly remodeled space at the College of Dupage on June 5th, 2021. The Exhibition is an immersive experience and features 26 original works created by Frida Khalo. In addition, it includes a multimedia timeline with more than 100 photographic images from the artist’s life as well as a Frida Khalo inspired garden designed by Ball Horticultural.
In preparation for the promotional materials for the opening, Justin reached out to me to help create some new portraits of him and his colleague Diana. I went to the gallery with my lights and set up a backdrop with gray seamless paper and took headshot style photos of both of them. After we got the classic headshots, we decided to create a background using pieces of the installation equipment. It was fun figuring out a creative background and playing with the architecture of the space.