shooting inspiration

For my first shooting assignment I want to focus on portraits. I'm hoping to improve on filling negative space in my photographs and also improving on the way I set up the photos and the lighting. 

I've found some examples of pictures I would consider to be good portraits. 

   * sample one: little girl

   * sample two: grandma

   * sample three: man smiling

I think these are all great examples of portraits of people, there is some negative space in all but the person really is the focal point of all three pictures. There is nothing in the background to distract you from the person who is the focal point of these pictures. I hope the be able to capture great images just like these during this assignment.