Old Dog: A Narrative Character Portrait by William Thabit (2015)

My main character is named Joe Smith. He is born from a family of world famous farmers. He is now old and wants his farm to win awards like his family always has. He is very hard working and serious. His life was very boring until he got a puppy to keep him company on the farm. In my picture, I have captured Joe Smith showing what he values most in his life. He values his crops and winning awards for his expertise in farming.

To capture this shot, I dressed my model, Connor Leak, in what a farmer would wear. I had him hold the corn and the award in his hands. I had him make a very serious face which contained no nonsense. I wanted the character to look very tired and tough. To show this, I had Connor look into the distance to represent how farmer Smith is always concentrated on the future, and how he will become an award winning farmer one day. I arranged the light in the studio so that it would cast a shadow on one side of his face. This represents his sad and troubled history of always wanting to fulfill his family's expectations. Once I took the raw shot, I put the photo into Adobe Photoshop. I then adjusted the contrast of the photo to make it more dramatic and bring out the fine details of the photo.