This is my second stranger-on-the-street portrait. I am kind of proud of myself for finding the courage to take this. In June my husband and I were staying in Newport, Oregon for the weekend. We were wandering along to docks taking photos, and this woman wandered up behind us and started chatting with us about photography. I was using my pinhole camera and she was curious I did the whole nerdy spiel. It occured to me to ask her if I could take her portrait and she said yes! So I grabbed the camera my husband was using (Yashica FX-3) and struggled to take the shot (because I didn't know how to use the camera). Thus, resulting in the annoyed look on her face.
Portraits at a wedding
My mom got remarried last weekend! It was a joyuous event. I am so happy for her. She asked me to take photos at her wedding. I brought both a film camera: my Canon EOS Elan II, and my digital camera: Pentax K7. I used Arista 100 (developed in Diafine) for the film shots. My plan was to get some portraits on film rather than snapshots of the wedding. My favorites are featured below.
I am continually fascinated by portrait photography. I think my favorite thing to do is to get in really close and focus on the expression of the subject. To me, that is the most interesting thing about portrait photography. I really feel like a portrait is, basically, the story between the subject and the photographer and that story is told in the face of the subject.
A few days after I developed these I found myself searching Google for the best portrait lenses for Canon. This could get dangerous fast!
Grief
I was visiting my family last weekend in Spokane, WA and had the opportunity and time to go through some of my things from years and years (and years) ago. One of the things I found was this photo. Way back in the days before I decided to become a Librarian, my profession of choice was photographer. I took several classes - one of them being a darkroom class. This was a photo that I took for that class (1992). It was shot with my beloved Pentax P30t (which I still have and use!) I wish I could remember which film I used and which paper I used. I do remember buying the paper because I wanted lots of grain. But now that I am back into film photography and print making I don't understand what kind of paper that would be. I have so much more to re-learn!
This is a photo of my grandmother on the day of my grandfather's funeral. They were married for 50 years and were in love the entire time they were married. She died a year after he did. I feel a little bad for taking this photo. I didn't ask her first, I just shot it. I captured a moment and when I look at it makes my heart hurt because I can see the pain of losing her husband in her eyes. Was it right for me to do this? I don't know.
Birthday Self Portrait
For years and years I have taken a self portrait on my birthday. This is the first year I have done so with film. I finally developed the roll of film this past weekend that contained said portrait.
I like how it came out. I had a really good birthday this year and this portrait, I think, captures my happiness. It's kind of a miracle that the lens decided to focus exactly on my one eye closest to the camera.
I used my Canon EOS Elan for this one. Film was Arista 100 and it was developed in Diafine.
A foray into the world of portrait photography
I am completely fascinated by portrait photography. When I look at a portrait I often wonder what the person's story is, what are they thinking when the photo is being snapped. I have come to believe that portraits are a reflection of the photographer, in many ways. A portrait almost says more about the person taking the photo than the person themselves. Or maybe it says something about the story between the photographer and the subject. Maybe? I haven't quite worked out what I think about all of this, but you can see that portrait photography makes me think.
Kiaora
For the past couple of years I have been very inspired by some talented photographer friends (Josh and Brendan, I'm looking at you). It's been really fun to watch their portrait projects take shape as they both have developed their style. It has made me want to try it myself. I am kind of shy though, so it's been hard for me to begin. It's very, very difficult for me to ask people if I can take their portrait. My experience so far has been with people asking me to take their portrait first, and not the other way around. With this last roll of film I thought I would step a little bit out of my comfort zone. Last week my husband and I visited his family in California for his mom's 70th birthday and I thought this would be a wonderful time to capture his family on film. Lucky for me, they were very happy to oblige!
As I mentioned, I am fascinated by what the person might be thinking when their picture is snapped. So when I take someone's picture I often ask them to think about something that makes them very happy. I don't ask them what they were thinking, that's between themselves and their own brain. But It's nice to see their happy expression. Sometimes I am a little too shy to ask this because I don't know what the person will think about such a personal question.
I think it's a little easier to ask children than adults.
I love this photo of Sophia because it was her idea!
I had a lot of fun with this. I hope I can get over my shyness and try again soon. I think I really like taking photos of kids the best. I love their expressions. I am trying to decide what my style is - I think I like getting in close and focusing in on the face and the eyes the best. I need to play more, though, to really figure it all out.
These were shot using my Canon EOS 650 on Fuji Neopan 400.