Creative Portraits + Photography Class
All the Things
I knew it was going to be a good month. I signed up for a class with my favorite family photographer/artist Yan Palmer. I put myself in one of the four “hot seats” to ensure I would follow through with all the things. (The hot seat people work a bit more directly with her which means staying on the top of the work so that both of us look good!)(I didn’t want to invest in another class that I start strong but never finish.) So, I’ve been working hard, thinking new thoughts. And I’ve been trying to ensure some of the new stays in my regular routine so that I keep growing. Basically, my mind has been blown wide open.
(If you like Maggie Rogers, cue “Light On” since that is one of the main songs I’ve been listening to over the past month.)
I love taking family photos. Love it. But the photography that makes me feel something deep inside of me is typically not family photography. It is the later work of Robert Frank, my very favorite photographer (Favorite enough that when I was 22 I actually drove from Maryland to Ottawa, Canada to see a big exhibit of his and then drove from Ottawa to Mabou, Nova Scotia to check out the terrain he soaked up daily.)(Yan, don’t worry-you will not see me driving up and down your block!) It is the work of the Alchemistress and Ian Ruther, who both use old-fashioned photography techniques to make portraits and landscapes that are timeless and luminous and achingly beautiful.
Making Art
So Yan points out that I love textures and layers and repetition, and to go make some photos that with textures and layers and repetition. Duh. My brain is turning. There are several Boulder and Longmont locations I’ve always wanted to use as a backdrop to a photo shoot. I need a male model. And a 1980s-style beach chair. And a mirror and paint. Within two days, I head into Boulder with my props, pick up my male model on a cold evening, and head to the woods.
And I fail. It’s not that I am failing. It’s that I feel frustrated. I am not getting the photos that glorify lush texture, that have 10 ethereal layers in one image, and it’s freaking cold out. And my male model is getting cold. So I am frustrated.
But I like some of the photos. They are a good starting point. And, hey, didn’t Robert Frank alter the images after taking them by grouping them in different ways, scratching words on the surface, tweaking? Didn’t he turn the images into art, sometimes after the fact?
I can do that. I can take photos, print them (imagine that!), and play and explore by using my intuition and feelings. Make space for happy accidents. That’s what’s been missing for me with photography…the magic. This step that explores tangible layers and tactile objects to help create emotion or beauty. Mind blow, thanks Yan.
And now the scary part begins. What’s next?
Keep scrolling for this latest photography/art work.
