I’ve said several times that Kelly Nolan, who I photograph often, has a smile that can light up a room, and this photograph reminds me of it. I took my manual focus Petzval 58 lens to the Bog, and I had a lot of trouble with it, I couldn’t seem to get  it adjusted to the lights in the tavern at night.

The photos were way too light or way too dark. When I got it on the computer, I played with the brightness and detail and bit, and there was Kelly, lighting up the room.

I played with the ISO and moved around and I got this dazzle of light and color, which I actually ended up liking.  A different kind of portrait, but a portrait still. To me, it captured Kelly’s radiance, the power of her smile to light up a room. The Petzvan lens is challenging me look at the world differently and think differently about what photograph is. In a sense, this one captures  Kelly’s spirit as well as any conventional portrait. In a way, it is Kelly’s spirit.