I recently gave a print of this image to a friend, so I thought I’d post it here. It’s good to dig up older creations to remind myself of work I’m happy with.
This image was created specifically as a donation for the Textile Museum of Canada’s annual silent auction fundraiser. The face is a stone sculpture I photographed in one of the Egyptian Museums in Berlin. The overall forms and textures were created by combining photos of waterlilies, graffiti, and a computer-generated design.
Entitled “Faith”, this was my very first digital composite when I began learning how to use Adobe Photoshop. The image is created from five separate photographs, including the markings around the female subject’s eye. I realized after I had completed it that each detail of the piece (excluding the portrait) had a religious association – the rose window from La Sagrada Familia, a lion from a tomb in St. Peter’s Basilica, and details from Catholic tombstones. Hence the title, “Faith.”
Taken with a Canon EOS 500, using cross-processed Fujichrome Provia slide film. This is the third or fourth time I’ve worked with this film and it seems to have a lot of red in it when cross-processed. The colour bias isn’t always suitable, depending on the subject matter, but it works well with these two shots.
My friend Christopher Evans recently lent me one of his Diana cameras to try out. The Diana is a plastic toy camera very similar to the Holga. Both shoot medium format film, and produce artsy fartsy photographs through their respective technical faults, such as vignetting and light leaks. The Diana’s image size is slightly smaller at 4cm square which allows for sixteen shots per roll of film.
The above shot is from my first roll taken with the Diana and I’m happy with the results so far. I’m glad to get the chance of working with this camera more thoroughly and really see what I can do with it.
“I know I am made from this earth, as my mother’s hands were made from this earth, as her dreams came from this earth and all that I know, I know in this earth…and I long to tell you, you who are earth too, and listen as we speak to each other of what we know: the light is in us.”
~ Susan Griffin
The article on Bending Light has only been online for a day and already the response has been terrific. I’m really glad people are finding it so helpful in getting them motivated to either try shooting portraits, or trying it again.
The above shot is one I decided to leave out of the portfolio selection because I’d recently submit it to another publication. It feels good to have such an extensive body of work that I’m happy with to chose from.
I’m thrilled to announce the launch of the latest online issue of Bending Light Magazine. I was asked to contribute an article on “Overcoming the Anxiety of Portrait Photography”, as part of their current theme of Angst. It was a very interesting subject for me to explore and realize how far I’ve come since I first began photographing people. I am very pleased with the article, and would love to hear back from people about it. Please leave a comment for me here.
It was challenging to have to select only nine shots to accompany the piece and have them be a good representation of my portrait work. I wanted there to be a good variety of faces and poses, show some of my best recent portraits, and to not just use work I’ve featured before. I’m probably even more pleased with the image gallery than the article. I like it when my work looks so good.
Thank you to Ariela at Bending Light Magazine for selecting me to write on the subject, to Joanna for her usual fabulous editing assistance, and to all the lovely people who posed for me and are featured in the article.
Before Catherine Jamieson started Utata, she led a much smaller private group that I was a part of called Woman. As you can guess, it was comprised of only female photographers and it provided a private place for “talented women who take their art seriously.” It didn’t last very long but while it did we worked on a few themed projects, much as Catherine still does now with the larger group of Utata. My favorite of these was “What to do with old love letters…” which inspired a series of shots I’m still very pleased with that involved the challenge of photographing fire.
Taken on Broadway Avenue as I was waiting for the bus. I wanted to try capturing the pigeons in flight, which was hilarious to do with a holga.
Taken with the Canonet Rangefinder, using cross-processed fujichrome Provia.