“From the Land of His Elders” was a composite portrait created from a regular client session several years ago. The subject’s mother requested the portrait to honor her son’s Native American heritage. The subject, Brian, was planning to cut his long, natural hair and his mother wanted a portrait of him in full regalia before he severed his long locks.
The clients wanted a natural outdoor setting for the portrait, so we began the session at Brian’s home. However, I prefer working in my studio because I can use controlled lighting to create more flattering images than in harsh summer sunlight. So with a little coaxing, they agreed to finish the session at the studio, just a few miles away. The image for this composite, one of the family’s favorite poses, came from the studio portion of our session. The indirect gaze invites viewers to appreciate the intricate details of the subject’s traditional costume, rich with cultural significance.
The session was captured with a Canon 5D Mark II and 24-105 L series lens. Exposure was f11 at 1/160, ISO 125. My studio lighting is a variety of brands and sizes. I feel that light is light and creativity comes with how you use it. My main light is fitted with a 24×36″ softbox placed camera left, and fill has a large umbrella placed near the camera. A small light in a 12×12″ softbox is above and behind the subject along with a kicker light near the background aimed toward the subject’s left ear to provide a bit of separation. I enjoy raking the light across the sitter’s face in a manner that is sometimes unflattering but always dramatic.
Oftentimes, it’s the background that tells the story in a portrait. The background sets the mood and produces a narrative that supports the subject. I will often photograph a person with the intention of dropping in a new background. I’ve sourced backgrounds from royalty-free sites such as historical museums and the Library of Congress, purchased digital backgrounds from other artists, used scenes produced by artificial intelligence, as well as using my own photographs. I will often photograph a scene specifically with the intention of combining it with a portrait.
I felt this image and the story behind it would benefit from a scenic background. I wanted to give the scene a historic feel so I chose to incorporate a vintage painting by Dutch master Jan Both, a painting in the public domain that I obtained from Rijksmuseum.nl. Using Photoshop, I extracted Brian from the studio background and placed him in the new setting. The background needed a bit of rearranging to fit the sitter’s pose including reversing the background to better match the light on the subject. I also adjusted the hue and saturation on the subject layer to better match the background. In retrospect, adding a texture to the subject layer to match the painting’s texture would have further enhanced and unified the image.
The title, “From the Land of His Elders”, is a bit of a misnomer. Brian was a member of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians. The scenery in Both’s painting is nothing like the landscape here in the Great Lakes region of Northern Michigan. But I liked the feelings evoked in Both’s painting and it aligns with the stylized vision many hold of Native American culture.
I had planned to change the background of the photo at the time I created it, but it was several years later when I finally finished the image for IPC 2022 where it merited and was selected for the Showcase Book. I did not enter it in any other competition but it satisfies the vision I had for the image when it was first captured. Unfortunately, Brian never saw the image in its finished form. He had been diagnosed with cancer shortly after our session and died (or as the natives say “walked”) a few years later. The portrait remains a testament to Brian’s heritage and a poignant reminder of the stories that portraits can tell.
