Amrita

Amrita booked a portrait sitting for her thirtieth birthday and brought the skateboard she has ridden since she was fifteen. She wanted pictures that looked like her on an ordinary afternoon, with the board in them.

The light

The studio's west window throws a hard edge of light across the floor from about three o'clock. We booked the sitting for that hour and worked without flash, moving her through the patch of sun as it crossed the room. Standing just left of centre, the board held loosely at her side, the frame needed nothing else.

The sitting

The first twenty minutes were conversation and test frames. The keepers came after that, once she had stopped checking where the camera was. We finished with a few frames against the ochre wall in the hallway, in a sweater she had brought for the second look.

A preview went out within the week and the gallery of 25 frames a week later. She ordered two archival prints for her parents.