The above shot is featured (sans photo credit) on the 30 Days of Sustainability website. The lighting set up was very simple – one light bounced off an umbrella, with a white reflector providing fill in the shadow areas. Taken with a Canon digital Rebel XT.
Or so I thought until this past weekend. The following is a cross-post from my personal blog:
At the Northern Voice blogging conference on the weekend I had the challenging, but interesting, experience of stepping into the roll of speaker.
I was asked to speak because a last minute replacement was needed on a panel talking about blogging, passions and personal expression – an ideal subject for me.
My initial reaction to this request was a flat out refusal because public speaking, especially when I’m not prepared, scares the living crap out of me.
I’ve never felt comfortable being the centre of attention, even in small groups, because I’m too self-conscious.
I was very shy growing up, and even though I’ve worked hard to overcome that shyness, it’s still never entirely left me.
But here I was being offered an opportunity to do something on a larger scale that I do anyway which is to share my experiences, my passion for art and photography, and also inspire.
I hate missing opportunities I should take, and I really hate letting FEAR stop me, so I decided to do it.
I can’t really give a good summary of what I said because it was kind of a blur, and I was working off the top of my head.
I do know I mentioned all the blogs I write for, how my writing has changed, the Vandigicam gang, and spoke about the effect flickr has had on my life.
I was really nervous and uncomfortable for the most part, but I think I clearly made my points in the short time I was given.
Afterwards I wished that I’d had more time to talk, to interact with the audience and other speakers, but maybe next time.
(I can’t believe I’d want to do that again, but I think I do.)
I’m glad so many of my friends were present to convince me to do it and offer encouragement, because I don’t think I could have done it without them.
Special thanks to Kris Krug and Darren Barefoot for asking me.
I was a witness to the aftermath of a doll masacre, and it was very disturbing…
This shot is another to be used as an image projection in “Bear.” Try to imagine a large scale version of this and the previous shot of the doll projected onto a wall. Oh the creepiness!
In the last four months I’ve attended two plays that have utilized image projection to great affect within their productions. I’m usually not much of a threatre goer so I was pleasantly surprised and fascinated by the use of these special affects. A court scene in “House of Atreus” at UBC back in the fall, included a video projection of a jury that was perfectly timed to interact with the live actors and their movements on stage. More recently, I attended the Electic Company’s production of “Studies in Motion” and was blown away by their extensive use of still imagery projected onto moving screens to enhance the idea of Muybridge’s work in motion studies.
And now to segue into how this relates to me and photography… Last week I took photos to be used as image projections in the production of “Bear”, opening this week on February 2 at UBC. The above doll baby made for a very creepy subject (which I’ve made creepier with a colour treatment), and I’m curious to see how she’ll fit into the rest of the play.
THE THEATRE AT UBC MFA DIRECTING PROGRAM PRESENTS:
BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME by Terrence McNally, Directed by Camyar Chai
BEAR by Rebecca Beegle, Directed by Joanna Garfinkel
It’s the lonely science of ventriloquism versus the creation of a perfectly safe suit in this love-and-death chronicle of how one married couple finally achieves their dreams, care of Pyramid Lake, Nevada. JimJim’s fullbody suit and Ruthie’s multiple voices create unique barriers to their loving communion. Though the two are at odds, they have together hired the Dream Ranger to emcee an Awards Ceremony, and along the way they are granted a celebrity cameo in the form of a Canadian bear-proof suit-maker.
…
February 2 – 4, 2006 – 7:30 pm
DOROTHY SOMERSET STUDIOHUT M-18, 6361 University Boulevard
DOUBLE BILL $5 TICKETS: 604.822.2678
INFO: www.theatre.ubc.ca
In a follow up to the entry about Utata weekend projects from the other day, “Beam Me Up” has been launched over at Utata.org . You can check it out here. There are a few photos of interesting experiments with long exposures using flashlights included, and the use of these as a light source in general gives me a few ideas…
Oops Magazine is a local bi-weekly Japanese language paper about life in Vancouver. My friend Noriko Miyamura is a writer for the magazine, and I was recently interviewed by her for an article about my work that’s in the current addition. Some of my photographs have been included, as well as a picture of me taken by Joanna Garfinkel. Please do take a look at their website.
Noriko has very kindly translated her article to English, and I’ve included it here:
Rachael’s photos are mysterious, and each one seems to have its own hidden message. People who become subjects of her portraits find them fascinating because it reveals their true feelings or subtle sexuality. Her subjects are mostly ordinary people, not professional models. They look natural in the photos and there is a feeling about them that each person is willing to open up their heart to her.
Rachael was born in Toronto, Ontario. Her interest in photography first developed when she was in high school. As an artist, she always feels the need to create something every day. Over the last few years she has focused on creating digital art, “I love to play with imagery (in Adobe Photoshop) and have fun with the original photographs. By doing so the photographs are telling their own story.” Rachael moved from Toronto to Vancouver in 2004, and is now working towards establishing herself as a freelance photographer. She is an avid blogger with various photo-related blogs. She enjoys interacting with other artists and shares her ideas, thoughts, and inspirations on her blogs. “To maintain an artistic practise, I feel that you have to do something creative every day. It takes dedication and determination to persue your dream, but it’s important to just do what you want to do and have fun with it!”
She often can be found walking around the city with her camera, trying to capture “the moment” of everyday life. Today, maybe you will bump into Rachael as she takes her photos with passionate eyes.