Last Updated on 10/31/2018 by Mark Beckenbach
All images by Elizaveta Porodina. Used with Creative Commons permission.
Summer is the perfect time to bum around under the sun. To do nothing but explore the great outdoors or just hang out around the house or in front of the television with the AC on: it’s your pick. To head to the beach or the pool and get a tan. Of course, it’s also a great time to practice natural light portraiture with arguably the best light source you could ever have; the sun.
The Lake by Elizaveta Porodina, a Munich-based fashion and fine art photographer, is a series of natural light portraits featuring a woman in a bright red swimsuit splashing around at the shallow end of a lake. It easily brings to mind those warm summer days spent idly under the sun and keeping cool in bodies of water.
The series looks simple in every way – quite the opposite of Elizaveta’s usual work. There are no obvious complicated set-ups, no unnatural poses emulating high fashion editorials, no numerous wardrobe changes or elaborate makeup looks. But all these don’t matter as Elizaveta deftly uses sunlight to her advantage to create shadows and silhouettes. The reflection of the light on the waters and the flare cast a dreamy mood to the images, too.
Another detail to take note of here is the color. The red of the swimsuit (and even of the inflatable ball) contrasts beautifully against the blue sky, green trees, and turquoise waters.
Let’s not forget her black and white renditions which look just as dreamy, albeit just a little more dramatic, as the rest.
Needless to say, Elizaveta certainly nails natural light portraiture with this series!
See the rest of The Lake here. Don’t forget to visit Elizaveta Porodina’s Behance profile to see more of her creative and diverse work in portraiture, many of which has been commissioned by magazines.