Day 44

44/365, originally uploaded by Aaron LaRue.

Jay Maisel says a good photograph needs either light, color, or gesture. A great photograph has all three. I love this idea, so I'm going to try and take a picture accentuating each aspect. Today's picture is of my friends Katie and Dustin, and hopefully it's apparent that I started with gesture.

Gesture is defined as "an act made as a sign of intention or attitude", so for this photo I wanted to emphasize a loving action between Katie and Dustin.
 
These two were heading home from a road trip up in the northern parts of our fine state of California, and stopped for a night in Santa Barbara to spend some quality time with yours truly. I have been frustrated with my pictures lately, and have wanted to do this light/color/gesture thing for a while, so last night presented a perfect opportunity. 


Dustin and Katie have been together for about a year now, and they are so cute they are almost disgusting. I love them both dearly, and for different reasons. Dustin is a mover and a shaker, and constantly keeps things interesting. He's also a total goober. Katie is sweet as pie and, like most of the company I keep, super laid back. I told them they both could stay with me, as long as I could shoot them. While I got a really cute picture of them (here), I think this one captures their personalities more: Dustin does his thing, and Katie can't help but smirk. 


The lighting on this picture was simple, big soft umbrella to the left, rim light for separation on the right, and let the shadows fall where they may. I left it subtle, and I think it works. It looks good, but it's not in your face. And it definitely doesn't over power the gesture, which was key here.