Advertising Portrait for Baltimore Symphony Orchestra

I recently wrapped up a portrait I did of Marin Alsop, the conductor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. The client called me saying she wanted to make a portrait of Marin for a circus themed program they were doing. We had originally talked about shooting in a prop warehouse with a bunch of circus props around her. After calling around to a few places, we found it would cost a minimum of $3000 to rent the props and space for shooting for the day. I proposed having me fabricate a backdrop for the portrait in photoshop. Of course I would have to charge the client for the extra computer time I was going to put in, but it still represented a huge savings to the client. I made a few quick sketches, got a little direction and approval from the client, and away we went. I hope you like the results...