Q: What does this composition tell us about Alma the Younger?

A: I think it tells us the same thing about Alma that it tells us about anyone who sets forth as he did. The character in the composition rises out of the shadows of the cloak and into the brilliant highlights that outline the countenance. Those highlights are like the sunlight of purpose that bathes the beginning of any good impulse to do good—any embarkation. Whenever we embark, we have to rise out of the gloom of doubt and fear that try to hold us back.

Q: What does that say about the limbs and foliage behind the figure?

A: The thicket is not merely behind the figure, but above it like the fingers of fear reaching out toward the darkness in the figure. Whenever setting forth is purposed, fingers of darkness gather round in an effort to hold a person back. This isn’t just a picture of Alma setting forth on yet another mission, but a picture of every missionary’s departure.

Q: What about the light beyond?

A: God isn’t hiding in the shadows, He’s out beyond the tangle of apprehension, out where the figure will be fully free. The light peaking under the canopy of foliage is not just an invitation to freedom, it’s so bright that nothing is discernible beyond the shadows. That’s where courage is involved in following through on any impulse to do good. And just as it takes time for the eyes to adjust to brightness, so it takes time to get used to the blessings and opportunities that enfold a person with every step they take into the brilliance of an unknown good.

Q: Why did you choose to create this set of images?

A: When we do a shoot for a painting, we explore quite a range of possibilities with the figure. And while only one of the possibilities makes it all the way to canvas and completion, there are other possibilities that, in their own way, are just as good. Each pose and composition constitutes a window onto the person, and onto what we can see of ourselves in that person.

There isn’t time to paint everything, and so these images provide windows that would otherwise have remained closed. Taken together with the painting, they fill out detail in what we can see of the character of the person involved. So far, each image in this series of character vignettes is an intimate view of the person involved. I don’t know where the series will go, but where it’s been is certainly an intensely personal focus on how much like these heroes we are as we try to do the good that is within arm’s reach in each of our lives. These images show what makes a hero heroic: Deciding to do good and doing it when no one is watching.