The Family Tree Project

2021 // 2022

A YEAR OF PORTRAITS...

The overall purpose of The Family Tree Project is to document my family and, in turn, discover a bit about myself. For years, I've had this idea to photograph my family, to capture a portrait of as many living family members as I could in one year. This year, I am honoring my mother and her lineage, focusing on the Leroy family tree. Creating a time capsule to freeze time and encapsulate the memory of that year for years to come. Even though I've had the idea for years, I never thought I had the time or skill to execute the series to an acceptable level. But after the two years we have all experienced, I thought there is no better time than the present to start. Life is fragile, and we are only getting older, so why not now.

With this project I decided to use Rembrandt lighting, limiting myself to one flash, a black backdrop and an 85 mm lens. Rembrandt lighting was “coined” after the master himself, Rembrandt, the famous Dutch painter in the 17th century, who used this lighting technique to such great effect in his works of art. The setup at its most basic uses just the one light source.

Sharon & Quncee