Making Renaissance Morning
You see the moss swaying from old oaks trees. You eat shrimp and grits. You hear a drawl in a native resident’s voice. You find camellias in winter and in spring, a profusion of gardenias, magnolias, tea olives, azaleas, and jasmine. Everywhere, jasmine. It’s a place of lush greenery, opulent vines, and sumptuous hedgerows. The trees embrace the sky with massive arms. You watch a glorious sunset that must have been pulled from an art studio belonging to God and his Angels.
Many people stop there and assume that adding a few alligators, cicadas, and snakes make the complete picture of this amazing place.
There is, however, something more. Much more. Something deep and satisfying. It rumbles gently in the soul once you catch it.
It’s a place where you don’t need to bring anything. It gives you things. It’s not a place you should try to change. It changes you. Even though you swear it won’t.
You know, the humidity bends the sounds waves. Nature sounds different here. It smells sweeter here, too. The heat multiplies the scents of nature. The light waves are touched by this scientific alchemy as well. Everything you see, hear, and smell is enhanced. This place…it calms the spirit and opens a generous feeling in the heart. It scatters peace on the path where you walk. It makes you kinder. It makes you more considerate.
If Mother Nature had a front porch, this might be the place she’d build it. Here, you’re given sips the very nectar that lifts your own human nature to its sweetest state of being.
It’s called the Lowcountry and it’s on the eastern coast of South Carolina.
And in that place is a woman named Laura Sterling.
She’s an Animal Whisperer. In fact, she started a non-profit rescue and rehabilitation center on her land. Because her Calling is animals. She protects them. She heals them. She helps them live when they’re hurt or sick. She cradles them if they won’t make it.
One day, she noticed she was approaching Wisdom and it made her feel old. She cried out to The Lords of Facebook and among the many commenters, who patted her gently, was me.
I said, “Bring me a goat and a chicken. I can fix it.
It sounds like voodoo and, in a way, it is. For I am a photographer.
It’s been said about my photography style that “You have a God given talent of seeing a woman’s beauty. You see past faults and limitations to their beautiful soul. Then, you create an image of that. And you do this when most women are looking for ways to tear down other women.”
If that’s true, then this is my shot of Laura’s soul.
This photo is the REAL Laura Sterling. No matter what you see on this outside. No matter how her age visits her. No matter how dirty she gets rooting around in her barn yard, this beautiful women is actually who she is.
This image, titled Renaissance Morning, is designed to look like a classic painting from the Renaissance style and Laura is a Renaissance woman. She’s smart, beautiful, and accomplished. She can do so many things. She IS so many things.
The symbolism is strong in the image. Laura is wearing a dress made for specifically this shot. It’s a gathered satin skirt and an off-the-shoulder velvet top. It’s the color of Italian red wine and made to sweep the floor in a train. Because Laura has a manor-born grandness to her gentle yet fiery spirit. I made the dress and my mother’s vintage lace lines the sleeves.
She’s standing in front of a 16th century window design that halos her head in an angelic style as a nod to her abundant faith. I made the window.
Many Renaissance painters positioned women for a profile view. In the 16th century, the artists also began using more-elaborate settings and a storybook approach. Agnolo Bronzino's "Portrait of a Lady" presents a dignified woman with the faintest of smiles playing on her lips.
In the 17th century, Vermeer painted a Young Woman with a Water Pitcher as a storybook painting of a woman in an ideal home with an ideal life. A basin or water pitcher are recognized as traditional symbols of purity.
In the book, Alexandre Dumas’ ‘La Dame aux Camélias’ the heroine always wore a white camellia, showing to the world that her heart remained pure.
Elements of all of these classics are used in this image of Laura.
Laura brought, Neo, a baby goat, a gentle rooster named Red, and a tiny baby bunny to the studio for her photo. Her story wouldn’t be complete without her animals.
Watching each of them interact with Laura was a lesson in love and trust. All three were fine with strobes flashing and strangers talking (and occasionally squealing at their cuteness factor). They remained undaunted as long as Laura was right there. She could hold or handle them without any protest from the adoring creatures.
As Laura lifted up this proud Herald of the Morning, he gazed back at her with utter calm. There was no squawking or flapping. He seemed to understand her Madonna-like smile professed a secret joy that he shared.
As an aside, looking at these animals from a symbolic standpoint in this image, goats are symbolic of independence and faith. Baby bunnies are the symbol of new life and resurrection. Springtime. While Roosters are a symbol of Christ, as are an eagle or lamb. As Christ, the rooster announces the light that follows the night. Remember that Christ rose very early in the morning. This is why we’ve often seen Roosters on weather vanes on top of church crosses.
All in all, this shot took almost two weeks to plan, build, paint, and sew the dress. It also took several days to decide how to light it. This set used four strobes. One behind the window, a snoot on the flowers, a grid on the dress, and a large soft box as the main light.
The goal was to create a portrait that mars the line between photography and classic oil paintings. It’s a mix of old and new blended in such a way that it’s hard to tell them apart. It takes the best of time honored traditions and the cutting edge of digital technology and melds them into one fabulous art image. Because that’s a reflection of the living art that is Laura Sterling.
It won a Portrait Master Award in the spring of 2021.
