Looking Back On My Old Photography
If you’ve read the “About Me” page, then you know I claim to be interested in many different topics. Photography gripped me at a young age for reasons that I cannot understand. I wasn’t immersed to an art world, but I immediately knew that I wanted to learn. I considered joining a yearbook club because that was the closest avenue I had to being near a camera, but ultimately decided against it.
Photography is such a different art form to me. It tries to tell one side and one moment of a story. The photographer tells you what they see. It’s perhaps the clearest form of artistic expression that immediately connects the viewer with the artist. Obviously, this doesn’t ring true with every photographer, but I am aware that the images I take are one moment in time and not living.
In portrait photography, you see everything that that person is thinking and feeling. Those images are so powerful to me which is why I believe I am so drawn to portrait style photography. With my self portrait-photography, I wanted to speak with people through art rather than other ways that I found difficult. So, I put myself in front of the camera hoping to connect with others.
In college, I finally decided to study the subject that I had wanted to for so long. While taking classes, I explored different objects to be the subject of my photographs.
I tried out the styles of photographers that I learned about to see if I connected with the subject as they had, but I often never saw what they did.
Imitating Bernd and Hilla Becher Photography
Imitating Bernd and Hilla Becher Photography
Imitating Claire Cohen Photography
I put myself in front of the camera, and found that it best expressed my creativity to myself.
Commercial style photography, weddings, engagements, newborns, etc. never appealed to me because I couldn’t connect with it. Simply having a nice camera won’t make you a good photographer. I knew I would never be good in those areas, because there wasn’t a connection. One friend of mine had asked me to help her take pictures at a wedding, and aside from us both having terrible experiences unrelated to the job, it was not enjoyable for me. Below are some commercial style photographs that I have taken throughout the years.
I only took pictures for my assignments, and once I was done I stopped taking them. That is, until now, well kind of…as I continue to explore my passions, I try to combine them as well in ways that I can. I recently made some head wraps that I’m selling on Etsy and perhaps took more creative style pictures than necessary.