I recently found a terrific podcast called The Allusionist, described as small adventures into the English language. It's really quite entertaining and I particularly enjoyed the casts on word etymology, or the history of words. I didn't even know what what word etymology was before this podcast.  I love that I learn something while driving to agility practice with my dog Ginger.

As a bonus, I also learned what an eponym was - see? Bet you didn't see that one coming either! An eponym is a person, place, or thing after whom or after which something is named, or believed to be named (if you're really digging this, check out their subsequent podcasts "Eponyms II: Name that Disease" and "Eponyms III: Who's that Guy?").

What does this have to do with family and pet portraits in the Dallas - Fort Worth? Where's all this going? Silhouettes! I was thrilled to see that this week's blog prompt for my personal photography project was silhouettes because it was listening to The Allusionist just last week that I learned that silhouettes were named for French author and politician Etienne de Silhouette (1709-1767), who was the controller general of finances in the mid-eighteenth century. Silhouette instituted strict reforms to help the failing economy. Everyone seemed delighted with his program, especially when he negotiated a large loan to adjust France’s fiscal position. Turns out that austerity isn't that much fun in the long run and he was fired after serving only 8 months in office, but that's another story.  

Etymologists believe that Silhouette’s tight-fisted, cost-cutting economic policies reminded people of shadow cut-outs, the cheapest form of art (in art-conscious France), which they identified with his frugality. These profile cut-outs were long popular because they were much less expensive than a miniature painted by hand. All one needed to make them was a pair of scissors and some paper to fold. 

All that being said, I think there's a place for them in modern photography, especially with pet photography. Despite the simplicity and restraint of a silhouette, when done well they irrefutably represent their subject as in the two examples below.