On Pictorialism- Tacoma Wedding and Portrait Photographer

One of the things a lot of photographers struggle with is their style.  What is it?  How do you develop it?  Is it relevant?  Is it what my clients want?

I've been struggling with it a lot recently.  There are so many talented people in this industry.  It's easy to look at every single one as competition, but the fact is, they're not!  Each has their own specific style, and does things their own specific way.  This reflection led me to reminiscing about my art school days, which brought to mind a comment one of my classmates made during a critique during our photo history class.  For al that I am loud and brash and love bright colors, there's a lot of the pictorialists in my photos.  For example, this one:

Or this one here:

(Both were shot on 4x5 film with a self built pinhole camera and printed in the darkroom)

Pictorialism?  What is that?  Way back in the dawn of photography, photos were made on heavyweight art paper.  The emulsions (the light sensitive solution) were painted on by had or coated with a glass rod.  As film was developed, toward the end of the 19th century, photographers started constructing images.  Some were simply exploring light and dark (or chiaroscuro), some created fanciful scenes, others simply explored the human body and the world around them.  The one unifying factor is the soft, dream-like effect  of these images.

Some of the most famous artists of the 20th century actually began as pictorialists.  Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, Edward Steichen and Edward Weston all have their roots in it.  They moved on to other styles and other work, as artists do, but you can still see the hints of it here and there in their work.

Here's one of Imogen Cunningham's (who happens to be one of my favorite photographers ever!):

What does that have to do with modern photography?  We all use digital, right?  Well, the thing is, the camera is just a tool.  No matter whether you're using film or digital, the fact is , we all see the world in a unique way.  One of the ways I've always seen the world is a bit dreamy, sometimes dreary, sometimes so bright and colorful it hurts your eyes. No matter how I try, those razor sharp edges just never seem to happen.  I always err toward capturing it as I see it as opposed to what my camera sees.  My camera has always been an extension of my hand, eyes and brain, with certain settings always coming to the fore.  Pictorialism isn't about documenting exactly what's out there, it's about creating an image.  It's about intention.  It's about feeling and daydreaming and all sorts of wonderful things.  I like the feel of it, the idea that instad of spot on everything, I'm allowed to ignore a few things and go with my gut.

This summer I'll be exploring my beloved film world a bit more.  Right now I have no darkroom, no enlarger, just a basement and some knowledge on non-silver, contact printing techniques.  This summer I'm going to attempt to capture my inner pictorialist.


This is the first in a series of short articles I'll be posting on photo history.  

Tiny wedding!- Tacoma Wedding and Portrait Photographer

One of my very good friends got married this weekend!  It was an absolutely lovely ceremony, and one of the tiniest weddings I've ever been to.  It was even smaller than my own, which had a grand total of nine people attending.

We did the ceremony at the nature trail behind his house in Spanaway, about 20 min south of Tacoma.  His lovely bride carried some my most favorite flowers ever, a combo of white and dark purple lilacs.  He even matched with a purple tie.

Their big wedding is next year, which I hopefully will be shooting as well.  It's going to be in CA, so we'll see.  Whatever happens, I am so incredibly happy for them.  They've waited a LONG time, and finally have each other.

The other thing about this wedding is that I'm trying out a new editing style.  The leaves ended up NEON green, which I did not like, not one bit.  I decided to try out the matte look that seems to be really popular these days, and it worked out great!  It fit the feel of the wedding perfectly.

Unfortunately, I can't post a whole lot with faces, since they haven't exactly told their families.  But here are a few that I absolutely adore.

Tumwater Falls- Tacoma Portrait and Landscape Photographer

The weather in Washington has been GORGEOUS!  Today it was around 80 degrees, sunny, with a nice breeze blowing.  After two weeks of the ick (seriously, we had the horrible plague), we needed to get out.  Justin got back from Hebrew class early, so we decided to go on a hike somewhere.

We considered Point Defiance park, but we go there all the time.  It's only 20 min from us, so it's kind of a fall back when Jack falls asleep in the car.  A couple ladies in a photographer's group I'm part of go to Tumwater Falls all the time, so I figured why not?  It's new to us, pretty and not too far away.  Let's go!

When we got there, I decided I didn't want to go for the usual portraits.  I just walked down the trail and saw what there was to see.  Eventually the camera came out and I ended up shooting a whole lot of images of the flowers along the trail.  It felt good.  When I first started mumbletymumble years ago, I started with flowers.  As a matter of fact, two of my first images placed in the Vanderbilt Mansion annual photography contest.

So, without further adieu, here's what I shot today.

(Jack decided he wanted to try to bring ALLLLLL the rocks home!)

BLOG KICKOFF AND A GIVEAWAY!- TACOMA WEDDING AND PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER

Welcome!!  

I've been sorely neglecting my blog, so when a friend asked me to do a giveaway, how could I refuse??  

My wonderful friend Jenny has started up a business making bows and bling for your little girl, called Little Bean.  They're inspired by her daughter, and some of the cutest things I've ever seen!  Her grand opening is next week!

To celebrate, she and I have teamed up to offer you all a GREAT prize package- a collection from Little Bean and a mini session from me!  Not in the Tacoma area, but still want to take part?  Instead of the mini session, I'll send you an 11x14 of one of my art prints.  

To take part in the giveaway, we've created a Rafflecopter form.  Just click on the entries and you're set!