Portrait of Miss Jones 1901

Frank Eugene captured this portrait of Miss Jones sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century. Look at the way he coaxes the light around her face and hat. I can almost feel Frank in the darkroom, coaxing this image into being. Did he make multiple prints, each with slightly different tones, until he found the one that sang to him? Photography, like painting, is so much about intuition. What does it feel like to make a mark? Where do you want to see form emerge? Frank is making those choices here. He wants to show her, but not give everything away. The soft focus reminds me of Julia Margaret Cameron's portraits – an artist that I look to a lot. They are kindred spirits, I think, interested in something beyond mere representation.