Low-Light Rembrandt Festivities

Mr. Rembrandt van Rijn was one of the greatest, if not the greatest painter the world has ever seen.

I’ve always loved his masterful use of highlighted and shadowed areas, which brought the viewer into exactly where he wanted them to be. Another fascination of mine has always been the beautiful  quality of light that a simple burning candle provides. Along with soft skin tones, it also creates an inviting ambient light for its entire environment. 

We gathered together some of my favorite acting talents for our self-indulgent project, explaining to our ‘family’ that they are going to have a great supper, in an old-time farmhouse that was lit by candle light. After dressing up in their wardrobe, they were ready to put on a red-carpet performance,   

All that I wanted was their most subtle gestures and emotions. Acting for the last row in the theater was hardly needed. I started an ongoing dialogue for them focusing on each family member, ranging from fun, to serious, to in-between…having different members adding in their own interpretation.  We talked about whatever came to mind…the farm, horses, school and even the weather. This kept our artful conversation very impromptu, energetic and fun.

You have to have fun! They had my game plan in mind, so I just let them act and expand their stories!!!

I used a slow exposure to capture the candles burning, but that’s where the candlelight radiance ended. The candles were used only as a prop, and not for lighting of the room. Various studio strobe lights were used to illuminate our scene…some were diffused for ambience, while some aimed directly at specific areas.

Our conversation was so much fun, they didn’t want to have their on-going story (or shoot) to ever end!