Sitting Pretty

I'm thinking of following the time honored Southern tradition of getting a bridal portrait done. I'm painfully shy in front of the camera and I'm worried about how to pose and smile. I have all the confidence in the world in our photographers but not allot of confidence in ME. I've also been thinking of how I want the bridal portraits to look. I don't want it casual but having it super formal is not me either. I've been thinking about it more and more and what better way to get inspiration than from the master of portraits himself, John Singer Sargent. I would love to infuse a little of the styling effect used in his portraits; a touch of whimsy and grandeur in all my finery but still make it my own without coming across as pompous.

Sargent is famous for his portraits of the aristocracy in the age when dressing up for dinner in your pearls and finery was commonplace. I love his gorgeously detailed portraits; you can almost feel the satin, velvet and tulle just from looking at his work. Most of the elegant ladies he painted he styled on his own with very few props but against lavishly draped backgrounds. Furniture was typically used, or architectural details like pillars and windows as backdrops. Props included a dazzling showcase of jewelry, fans, feathers or an Eden like display of flowers. In a city like New Orleans, grandeur, whimsy and the avant-garde are intermixed on a daily basis so the city itself will serve as a great backdrop for what I have in mind.

I think once I'm all spiffed up in my wedding gown I'll hopefully have the courage to channel the languid grace of Sargent's beauties:

Madame Paul Poirson

Elizabeth Chanler

Lady Agnew

Lady Astor