Prompt
· English
Seen through the glass of a display case, the shelf edge and price tags at the bottom, a 40-year-old woman of Indigenous North American descent is pinning the pleats of a heavy red silk saree on a dress form, beaming with a wide open-mouthed smile that lifts the cheeks. Her face is wider at the jaw than at the temples, with hazel eyes, soft rounded eyebrows, a small birthmark on one cheek, and light olive skin. She has short cropped hair dyed cherry red in shoulder-grazing locs, with reading glasses perched low on the nose. A spool of matching red thread is tangled near her elbow, chalk dust covers the fabric from repeated pinning, and a small pair of scissors lies on the work surface. The fisheye lens very close bends the edges of the frame, placing the main figure on a strong diagonal from one corner to the opposite one. Loop light from a lamp slightly above and to the side creates a soft loop of shadow beside her nose. Shot on 35mm film, grainy texture, shallow depth of field, warm color cast.
