About The Artist.... Simone Hester

Simone Hester was born in Chicago, Illinois and raised on the far south side of the city. She found an interest in art at an early age. At the recommendation of her teachers, she began private art lessons at a small art studio in the suburbs of Chicago. She was tutored, mentored and exposed to a variety of art mediums from calligraphy, etching, Chinese watercolors, acryllics, and oil painting. There she developed a love for drawing and painting. She broadened her art education by taking a variety of elective art classes in high school and college. Upon college graduation, her first professional position allowed her to work in graphic designs and further her knowledge of computers. Once given a digital camera, she combined her love of computers, painting, and photographs to develop her very own technique in creative digital photography. The computer has become her paintbrush and allows her to stretch the natural boundaries that a typical photograph is held to. She recently left the traditional workforce to work on her art full time and contribute to her website (http://www.simonehester.com/) and write her blog on photography, art, and everything else she finds creative.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

The Art of the Portrait...

Portraits have been around for a very long time, since the time of the cave man, moving through the Egyptian era and making the way through the Renaissance until the present, it continues to make it's mark on culture.  Today, one of the most popular form of a portrait (yet probably the least flattering) is the camera phone self-portrait.  How we have become a little narcissistic in our attempt to capture our best pose that we can share with all of friends (or someone we'd like to have as a friend) by posing in front of our bathroom mirror, holding up our cell phone and snapping away.  Some of these images have gotten some into trouble.  I will never understand why you'd get in front of a mirror naked, snap a cell phone shot and sharing it with someone.  If you post that image online via a social networking site, it is permanent.  You have to be careful of what you share.


Portraits do come in a variety of genres, styles, and techniques.  Today I want to talk on the more non-traditional portraits.  Not the cookie cutter stamp of the school portrait or that classic stand in front of a backdrop either solo or as a group or the infamous wedding poses that are out there.  To me some of the best portraits are those that are captured showing the life and vitality of that person (or people) who are in the moment doing something they love or reflecting on life or whatever.  Just doing something. The frozen in time standard was created because at one point it was important for the subject matter to be as still as possible while the camera captured the image via the use of sunlight.  Which is why photographs from long ago had captured people with a straight face and no smile.  So we have tons of somber imagery and not a good picture (no pun intended) of the person, were they happy, sad, a little zany? Who knows.


Candid portraits can capture a laugh, a sincere moment (think of a woman holding her baby for the first time), sadness, joy, and pure bliss.  These are pictures that truly tell a story and allow you to have a sneak peek into some one's life in that moment (we are all truly voyeurs aren't we).  The image below is an example of that.  It is a portrait of two boys fishing.  Now, the dozens of stories that one can come up with are numerous.  What story do you think the portrait is telling?


"Best Buds Fishing" (c) 2011
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