Creating To Cope

This is my wonderful mother. I documented her for many reasons other than practicality. My father passed away no more than a week ago and I wanted to convey our turmoil. Creation is a coping method, it is a way for us to muffle the inner commentary that is so prevalent in times of sadness. I recognized that just as she was manufacturing this for her solitude, I was developing images for my own cognitive therapy.

I shot this photo above with a speedlight tucked inside of a 50 in. soft box. I am really trying to master off-camera flash photography, but many reasons I couldn't think clearly enough to get my ratios right, so I had to keep using trail and error. I finally came out with something of a decent exposure but I am not very happy with the way it turned out. I really wanted to direct the light to get a good even highlight on her forehead and the tip of her nose. Her grey shirt didn't really help to set her apart from the chair either. 

Entangled