Portrait of Arteasha

This portrait is of Arteasia, who I had known previously from my local Lancaster Costco  in Lancaster, CA, USA. She worked for CDS (Club Demonstration Services) Costco Food Demonstrator as one of the sample ladies, everyone’s favorite people at Costco. She had been working at this position for four years and loved the job. She believed Costco employees were fun and the customers were terrific. What she enjoyed the most about her job was meeting and speaking with people, “a lot, all day long.”

Arteasia’s favorite item to serve were sweets, “everyone tends to like sweets so I get all the customers when I have sweet things.” Arteasia found that the customers “stuck around” and talked to her more because they wanted more and more sweets. In other words, on sweets day, she was able to talk to even more people.

I took this portrait with the point and shoot. I used Costco overhead lighting, but because of the shadow on her face caused by her cap, I looked for a box with a white bottom. You know all those empty boxes in Costco? Well I didn’t use one of those. I emptied out a box full of chocolate covered some non-GMO fruit.I had Arteasia stand under a light, had her hold the box, at her waist, like a tray, pointing up, and it reflected the light into her face to give her even lighting. I darkened up the background with Photoshop.

This was a fun shoot not only because Arteasia was tickled from being chosen to be in my project, and because she is so “sweet” (pun intended) in the first place, but because I enjoyed being creative about improving the available light.

Image Credits: Bat-Ami Gordin © 2017 all rights reserved. Credit if you use it, please.