nspiration from a Joan of Arc Painting: Creating an Empowering Ad Campaign for Hunter College
When did you realize your greatest potential? That was the question at the heart of this photograph — capturing that powerful moment when someone knows they have a unique gift and must follow their passion.
A while ago, I was hired by Hunter College to create an inspiring ad campaign featuring students. The goal was to showcase these young people discovering their potential, with Hunter College as the place that nurtures and fuels their creative and academic growth.
Inspired by the strength and determination embodied in Joan of Arc paintings, this campaign aimed to visually tell the story of empowerment, resilience, and self-discovery.
Helping brands and institutions tell meaningful stories through photography and video is what I’m passionate about. If you’re looking for creative storytelling that connects emotionally and visually, let’s talk.
I got my inspiration from one of my favorite paintings- Joan of Arc, Bastien-Lepage, depicts the moment when Saints Michael, Margaret, and Catherine appear to the peasant girl in her parents’ garden, rousing her to fight the English invaders in the Hundred Years War. Critics at the Salon of 1880 praised Bastien-Lepage’s use of pose and facial expression to convey Joan’s spiritual awakening, but found the inclusion of the saints at odds with his naturalistic style. -The Met
The artist Bastien-Lepage captured Joan of Arch in a very special moment of her life which I’ve always been down to so I wanted to convey a similar moment with my model. The shadow in the background was very important for me because I wanted to show the artist having an out of body experience, his shadow could be his soul looking beside himself, or a spirit granting the gift of talent. It can be up for debate what the shadow signifies I guess but one thing is for sure, it’s more intriguing with it there than not. It adds a mystery to the photo.
The viewer can’t see what the artist is actually painting and of course that is by design, his expression says it all. We can surmise he’s painted a masterpiece on the other side of his oversized canvas. Since this is a huge moment for the artist I wanted the size of the canvas to play off that. If it was a small canvas it wouldn’t have worked as well.
I placed green arrows and dots showing where the eye-line goes, picking up little details like the plastic containers of paint, his brush, the position of his foot, etc. We are first drawn to the model, then go to either the shadow or the canvas but then it goes back to the model so I drew a 2-way arrow showing that flow. The canvas and the shadow sandwich the artist making him the center of attention and yet a piece of the whole. Also there is a Yin and Yang effect with the white canvas vs the dark shadow. This is not evil vs good however; one could say he made a deal with the devil to paint his masterpiece. Don’t all artists make some deal with the devil to create their art? Maybe just the good ones. I digress.
His stance shows movement and readiness. The position of his legs and hand with his brush coveys realism to not only to the moment but I wanted this model to be be the artist, not play one. If you look closely there is paint dripping from the brush, a nice little touch to show he’s been there for a bit looking at his creation- even if it’s a small detail, its the small details that make a difference.
If you look at Joan of Arch topi see her hand caressing the leaves of a branch. That little detail is so important because it shows she’s unaware of her hand and fully invested in her realizing her greatness. What I took from that I wanted to have my model to also not be aware of his body, his hand as the paint drips from his brush. He’s invested in his potential as the shadow looks on just like the spirits look on to Joan of Arch.
I hope you enjoyed this read and check in for more interesting writings.
