Portrait: Kristen DiFate

Here begins another semester of wacky photos from assignments for class! Our first lesson: learning to use studio lighting to enhance the meaning of a portrait. My subject is the lovely Kristen DiFate.

Kristen leads somewhat of a double life. Three days a week she is a grad student in Columbia; the other four she is a professor at Webster University in St. Louis. I hoped to convey this with the use of a strobe to create a shadow behind her in the photo. This shadow symbolizes her ever-present second life.

A second pose.

I asked Kristen to pose with one of her bike tires to symbolize the huge role transportation plays in her life. Not only does she commute 252 miles a week to and from St. Louis, but she is also an avid bicyclist.