Rachael Padilla

More potential reference photos

Added 2020-08-24 23:55:01 +0000 UTC

Before heading out for a photo shoot this afternoon, I perused the pages of my art history books for inspiration. There are so many amazing paintings with models draped beautifully across couches with lovely tapestries in the backgrounds. Some are even painted into detailed landscapes or gardens.

With art history fresh in my mind and imagining the long lines of horizon and body I could achieve, I set the scene.

There are striking differences that have been lost in translation of history, though. The first being that the amazing classic paintings in the pages of history books and lining the walls of museums are not self portraits. Women were rarely allowed to paint nudes, if they were allowed to paint at all. I have the benefit of a camera with a timer to aid my process.

The second difference is the nature of, well, nature. I can look at paintings of the masters all day long and completely forget how buggy and itchy the outdoors are!