Hingamispäev: A Baroque-Inspired Portrait
Sometimes the things you need for a photograph have already been around for a couple of centuries.
In April 2017, I photographed Lembit Kass at Direktori Kabinet (Tulika põik) studio in Tallinn. I wanted to create a portrait that looked more like an old painting than a photograph, using subdued colours, a dark background and carefully controlled lighting.
The costume had its own history. It previously belonged to the Estonian National Opera and had been used in its 1980 production of Carl Maria von Weber's The Marksman (Der Freischütz). The book Lembit is holding is a family Bible dating back to 1846.
I titled the photograph Hingamispäev ("The Sabbath"), after a passage from the Gospel of Mark:
"The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath." — Mark 2:27
Around this time, I was also trying to get my photography seen by a wider audience, sharing my favourite shots in international photography groups on Facebook. This portrait received quite a bit of attention, with people comparing it to an old painting and asking about the lighting, editing and the history of the costume. It was encouraging to see my work getting noticed outside Estonia.
One photograph, but quite a bit of history behind it.
