As usual, Tom, your experience speaks wisely. This photo was indeed spontaneous, taken out of two rolls that I did as an experiment - taking portraits of people on a bright, foggy day. The quality of light, the sweep of colors, both totally unlike anything else I personally had done with portraits on color slide film. Unfortunately, these types of days are hard to find in Indiana.(posted 8680 days ago)The girl was just some girl that walked behind me as I was setting up my tripod. I asked her to pose for me and I had my friend make conversation with her as I concentrated on taking the shots. To choose a different person would have ruined the spontaneity, and as this was on the quad of Notre Dame, finding a better location would have been...well...difficult.
Either way, the pose had to be natural. I wanted every shot to be one of her having a conversation with someone. That's the way it turned out. Her obvious knowledge of how to pose was just another facet of her personality shining through. Is that part of portraiture?
Anyways, thanks for the comments, guys. BTW the title means nothing. I just didn't feel this image had anything dramatic enough to deserve a title.