Barbara Gottesman: A Senior Profile Portrait by Talya Abkowitz (2015)

The person I profiled for this project is Barbara Gottesman. She is a life coach who had her own coaching practice but is currently working for Decker Communications. She is very passionate about what she does. She has a love for helping and caring for others no matter what her circumstance is. Barbara, her husband Michael, and their two kids sailed around the world for two and a half years about four years ago. During this time Barbara wrote a book called How To Slay Your Pirates which is about conquering your inner demons. She currently lives in Menlo Park with her family and two dogs.

When taking this shot I struggled a lot with the shadows and lighting. There were a lot of trees in the backdrop and I had trouble posing her so it didn’t look like there was anything growing out of her head. I thought the lines on the garage door really helped to draw the focal point to her face. Overall I was really happy with the way this photo turned out.