March 2021 is Women’s History Month

by | Mar 1, 2021

Today’s Post by Joe Farace

“Think like a queen. A queen is not afraid to fail. Failure is another steppingstone to greatness.—Oprah Winfrey

Women’s History Month is celebrated every March to coincide with International Women’s Day that occurs on March 8 and highlights the contributions of women to events in history and contemporary society. In the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, it’s celebrated during March. In Canada it’s during October corresponding with their celebration of Persons Day on October 18.

It should come as no surprise to learn that in some parts of the world, women are discriminated against and may have less access to education and economic opportunities. That’s why throughout this month, people around the world will organize demonstrations and rallies in support of women’s rights to shine a light to these issues.

In my little corner of the Internet I wanted to commemorate Women’s History Month by showcasing all of the special women that I have been lucky to photograph in the past. This series begins today and follows on future Monday blog posts as well on my Instagram account (@joefarace.)

Last year during Women’s History Month I featured women who had impressive academic credentials. You can use the blog’s search feature—click the magnifying glass icon—and type “Women’s History Month” to read about these remarkable people. This year my focus is on several remarkable women whose back story helps them to bring an incredible energy to their photo shoots. These women possess an indomitable spirit along with both an inner and outer beauty and I was extremely lucky to ever get to photograph them.

How I Made This Shot: Tomiko is not only beautiful but is blessed with an athleticism and physical strength that combines to produce the elegance and the grace of a ballet dancer. These attributes along with with her innate creativity and effervescent personality make her a delightful model to photograph. I was only able to photograph Tomiko on two occasions; both times when I was attending a group model shoot in Phoenix, Arizona. Today’s image is from that first shoot.

I photographed Tomiko outdoors using a Canon EOS 50D with my former go-to lens for outdoor portraits, the EF 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 II USM lens (at 102mm.) Canon discontinued this useful lens but you can usually pick up used copies on Amazon or eBay for reasonable prices. Exposure was 1/100 sec at f/4.5 and ISO 200. This is the only shot I made of this pose and was captured using only available light. The JPEG file, made before my current RAW+JPEG regimen, was processed using all of my typical retouching techniques before lightly applying the Glamour Glow filter from Color Efex Pro.


If you enjoyed today’s blog post and would like to treat me to a cup of Earl Grey tea ($2.50), please click here. And if you do, thanks so much.

My book Joe Farace’s Glamour Photography is full of tips, tools and techniques for glamour and boudoir photography and includes information on all of the cameras used as well as the complete exposure data for each image. New books are available from Amazon for $28.66 with used copies starting at $8.90 as I write this, a bargain if I ever heard of one. The Kindle version is $19.99 for those preferring a digital format.