Once Upon a Time
Uzbekistan, Fergana Valley 2012
It was late afternoon when we visited this madrassa-museum. The sun was spilling golden light everywhere, casting a glow over this lovely girl who sat reading fairy tales to improve her nearly perfect English.
She wore a patchwork dress with black tights and black heels like a dancer’s tap shoes. Her legs were demurely crossed and her head bent to her reading. It was as if she had popped from the pages of her book…a perfect fairytale heroine.
What attracted me most was the sunlight on the curve of her neck and the angle of her head…a sweet innocence that I wanted to photograph. Looking at it now, I see that I could have removed a few blemishes on her adolescent skin. I got carried away with getting a feeling of lightness, using a diffused white vignette. It gives a high-key quality but I kept the beautiful colors which I saturated just a bit.
I recommend Penelope at www.uzbekjourneys.com for more information or to plan a tour of Uzbekistan.