Simple portraits

The whole idea of a good portrait is simple but effective lighting. We are all trying to emulate window light from a Northern exposure if one lives in the Northern Hemisphere that is. In any case I abhor portraits with many lights. There's a key light, a hair light and so on. In nature these do not exist and in a portrait they create distractions. In order for the character of a subject to come out, the light must help no hinder the process, ergo I go for a simple umbrella and a reflector to light up the parts that are not getting the light. Simple but, I feel, very effective.

The two photos were shot with a Nikon F and the Nikkor 105 F 2.5 on Plus-X film.