Marilyn Monroe is the definition of an icon. Every photo taken of her went viral, and they are still just as relevant. Her effortless facial expressions, her timeless style, and those CURLS. She has defined fashion long after her passing. This photo was famous as it was the cover of Life Magazine at the time of her death. It was used to commemorate and remember who she was.

As I prepared to recreate this photo I took several things into account. The first was that she had a very simple backdrop. I chose to use my closet door to achieve this effect. That made the second element difficult as she used natural lighting. I had to position myself across from a large window in order to let in the needed light. The third piece that I took into account was her appearance. I spend an hour attempting curls and her same makeup look, and then used a dark blue turtleneck to imitate her black one.

From this photoshoot I learned that lighting is everything. Despite my best efforts I could not get the look I wanted because the lighting was incorrect. All the editing in the world could not fix the direction the light was coming from. I will definitely keep this in mind for future photos.