Blog: March 2008

Today in class we converted our image into a fake CD cover. This is my unveiling: Joanna. She's probably a pop star.

I loooooove shooting portraits, as I have discovered in the past couple of years. But it wasn't always the case. I got my first plastic point-and-shoot camera on my 13th birthday. I used it mainly to record life (I was, and still am, obsessed with keeping records of my life). When I was young, I never thought my camera could be a form of artistic expression, although I did dabble in abstract photography without even realizing it at the time. I thought my pencils and paints were for art. But photography?

Before my first trip to Europe when I was 18, I "upgraded" my camera. A little naive, I ended up chucking my 30$ plastic camera in the back of my closet, and thought spending 10 times more money would get me a better camera. But all I had was an electronic version of my first camera - with a zoom (wow!) and automatic rewind. Nevertheless, it wasn't until I was back from that first big trip, and developing all my pictures (at Wal-Mart, mind you... Gasp! The horror!) that I realized that photography might be something I actually want to pursue a little more as a new way of making art. (yes, even Walmart prints can inspire a young, wide-eyed Gabrielle)

After that, I found out what SLR meant and got my hands on one. I discovered the joy of actually being able to CONTROL what I wanted to see in my prints. I started experimenting with b+w film and upgraded labs (if Japan Camera and Blacks are much of an upgrade).

Well, since then my love for photography blossomed. But I still was bent solely on artistic/abstract/landscape/nature photography. I always thought doing portraits was boring and reserved for Walmart studios with pastel backgrounds.

But one shoot changed that. I realized that my 105mm f2.8 macro lens had more uses than just giving me stellar macro shots. Portraiture! So on a sunny Saturday January afternoon, I got my 2 willing models (a friend and my sister), a pile of nice clothes, jewelry and make-up and set up a mock studio in an empty corner with big windows at the office where I worked at the time. After 2 intense hours, 350 pictures and a headache (who knew photographing could be that strenuous!), the portraiture bug got me. (here's a picture from that fateful shoot)

And since then, I never get tired of doing portrait shoots. In fact, I strive on them. I know I still have a long way to go, and so much to learn... but I think I'm in the right place for that: school. PrairieView has been a giant leap for me, and I'm excited and freaked out all at the same time as I'm propelling forward into the photographic unknown. All I know is that there's nothing like marveling at the beauty of life after a good shoot. That's enough for me to keep going.

My latest portrait shoot was with my sister Rachel this week. Shot on Ilford XP2 and processed at Shoppers (yeah, yeah, I know. But I'm broke and I've had no time to develop my own film this week). So please excuse the poor digital quality. These were the pictures on the CD the lab gave me.