I took this picture of my wife when we first got our studio lights. Upon arriving home, we were both excited to test out our lights. So we set up an impromptu photoshoot and experimented with dramatic lighting.
Later, when going thru the photos, I thought it would be fun to create a few creative edits using the images produced during the shoot. My friend Sam gave me the excellent suggestion to dilate the pupils, and my wife had a super imaginative idea. She wanted me to create the look of robotic skin and to turn her hair purple! Soooo cool!
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Here is where the meaning of the piece comes in. In fulfilling Ash's request, I wanted to illustrate her personality's beautifully intricate texture and layers. When first meeting Ashley a person might be charmed by her friendly disposition, humor, exciting spontaneity, or simply by her beauty.
But with time and trust, you are allowed to peer deeper and see what lays beneath the skin: The pathways of Ash's imagination, the symmetry of her logic, the principles that guide her love. These are the things that make her truly radiant. 🤗🥰

Through this piece, you see a glimpse of her intricate and captivating being. Also, I attempted to communicate an important lesson that she wonderfully illustrates.

Cultivate the inner qualities that produce true and lasting beauty. Gregariousness is sometimes fake, and even when a person has physical beauty, it will fade. But when a person cultivates beauty from within, they obtain an extraordinary radiance that becomes more brilliant each day. Like Ashley, such people shine from the inside out.
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Sidenote: If you want to get the full effect of another aspect that inspired this image, listen to Mountian Call by Thomas Bergersen, which is on his Humanity Chapter 1 album. To me, the soprano duduk solo (I think it's a duduk 😬) at 3:30 bears a sound similar to one of Ash's ideas. 😊