Portrait photography can run the gamut in type and style—everything from the traditional “head and shoulders” shot to lifestyle and environmental, candid and street, glamour, boudoir, maternity sessions and much more. View some of the eye-catching portraits and photos of the week that caught our attention, and read the backstories on the how they were created.

Charli Savage, of Strange World Photography in Australia, is a portrait photographer whose mission, she says, is to ignite “the child-like curiosity within us all, the curiosity that’s been laying dormant since we ‘grew up’….”

This image, titled “Light of Dawn”, was taken on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia, with model Rhiannon Hilton. Says Savage: “It’s about light dawning on a new day and the opportunities that await if you follow your curiosity. I’ve always held a curiosity for the strange and unknown. It’s a little piece of magic from my imagination.”

One challenge Savage faced here is that she doesn’t shoot in direct sunlight and there “weren’t any clouds on the horizon so time was a constraint, trying to get it shot before the sun rose.”

Katie Kavanagh of Katie Kav Photography in Dublin, Ireland, says couple Dee and Steph were married in the middle of a heatwave in Ireland (“very rare”).

“Portraits were taken in the middle of the harsh sun with very little cloud cover or shade,” says Kavanagh. “I decided to embrace this and create a graphic portrait for them. I positioned them in the middle of the triangle and lay on the ground to get them in the middle of it.”

Italian photographer Martina Ruffini says this photo was taken in a little greenhouse at Villa Pazzi in Tuscany, with natural light in the late afternoon. “The weather was cloudy and this allowed me to have the soft light I so love.”

Beyond that, she used a smoke machine to create a dreamy atmosphere.
“I had the model close her eyes to help keep the mood,” she explains.
“There was a kind of magic at the time of this shot, everything was
perfect, and that’s what got me excited.”

Ruffini continues: I love cinema and I’m inspired by it for many of my shots. Certainly studying the shot is fundamental, but post-production can also
help to create a cinematic atmosphere. The smoke machine and the muffled light of the greenhouse also played a fundamental role in re-creating the atmosphere I am seeking.”

Jeff and Cat, of The Apartment Photography, took this image at Lighthouse Park, in West Vancouver, BC.

“We just love that what started as an idea came together to create something interesting and meaningful,” says the photo duo, “even while it was definitely a challenge to find the right angle where you could see the couple’s feet at the top of the frame while still seeing their faces at the bottom.”

The photographers add that the puddle of water was quite small so workshopping the problem together with the couple, in terms of how far they stood from the water and the angle of their bodies, “really helped in making the image come together.”

Chuck Arlund says this image was taken close to his house in Murfreesboro Tennessee. 

“The art I am doing is really all about the ‘Look at me’ culture,” he explains. “We worship being worshipped.”

This is part of a series titled, “The Serpent in More Subtle.” Arlund uses Biblical references within the work to illustrate shame, ego, lost innocence, temptation… “You could look at this series as two parts: The first part, all shot on expired film, is very abstract and uses the Garden of Eden as a backdrop with Adam and Eve figures. The second part is shot digitally and is much more realistic looking. I am using a dark figure or shadow figure to represent Ego or the approaching loss of innocence.”

Arlund chose the kitchen for its representation of domestic life. The hiding behind the door, he says, is hopefully an obvious observation. “Some of the subtle things represented are the expression on the face is not scary or anything sinister, but more natural, as if this could be anyone or even a reflection. I love the representation of the white cross in the reflection in the window. I am always trying to show a duality or yin/yang in my images. That was a very happy accident. I do not want to push this narrative unless asked. I like Gregory Crewdson‘s approach of, once the image is in public it becomes the public’s and not my image. I’m hopeful that the viewer can form their own narrative or story in the image.”

Arlund continues: “I love the way this one turned out. I try and sketch out ideas or write about them before I shoot. This one is one of the few that came out almost exactly as I had imagined it. It is a great representation of the second part of my series where the “shadow figure” that is within us has now entered into the “real” world. It is a great transition image.” 

Dig into our Photo of the Day archives for even more compelling imagery.