Horizontal Love

The last few months I have been obsessed with horizontal portraits. I try to steal a simple beauty shot in every session. It’s funny to think about because, I once read somewhere that most photographers shoot landscape automatically, because it is the way we see.  Turning the camera to shoot in portrait was always second nature to me, so it was almost like a new discovery when I started shooting portraits horizontally. 

Showing some examples of my new obsession. 

Update and Inspiration

I've been shooting quite a bit lately, faster than I can edit. I find it is kind of wonderful when this happens.  I only have three more shoots till I wrap up on my Capstone project.  But, of course even though the class will come to completion soon, the drive and quality of imagery that I have been working on this semester will not.

One of the best things about this semester is the amount of visual research I've been making time for. I thought I'd share work from some of my favorite photographers, at the moment.

Tim Walker

Lara Jade

Zhang Jingna

Behind the Scenes

As much as I love being in the studio, I love watching other photographers work too. I really enjoy when photographers take the time to film a behind the scenes video of them working. Every photographer has there own workflow and it's cool to see how they create, especially when it's a photographer who's work I really appreciate. Sometimes the behind the scenes footage is just as beautiful as the resulting images.

About a year ago, a friend of mine, Matt VanGronigen, did some filming while I was working. And as much as I prefer to be behind the camera it was cool to see the photoshoot from a different perspective. He post the video on his Vimeo Page.

I think doing more behind the scenes is definitely in my future.

Ruth Elizabeth Photography from Matt VanGronigen on Vimeo.

Capstone #2 and Planning

 Last week I shot the second shot for my absurd and surreal fashion series, I am shooting for Capstone.  Besides the trying to be more creative, another aspect of this project is to get myself to be more on top of planning the initial concept. Normally, when planning a shoot I tend to be a bit vague and leave more of the shoot up to the energy that is on set.  Now I do a lot more visual research and plan out my lighting diagrams before I even cast a model. I have also taken up drawing out a reference sketch so that I have a starting point.  It definitely makes the process run a lot smoother and I  believe it allows me to get better results from a session.

For this shoot I was influenced by ads for designer sunglasses. These are some examples I was really drawn to.

I've found it really helpful to sketch out an image to work from, even though 80 percent of the time it turns out completely different.

A sketch from the first steps of planning my smokey sunglass shoot.

I'm still in the process of editing my final image. 

Screen shot of my favorite image.

1st Capstone Shoot

I was able to do the first, of many, test shoots for my capstone project, focusing on absurd and surreal fashion. I'm excited to experiment with techniques and lighting that I have not played with before, but I still feel that I have to push myself even further to achieve what I set out to do. The next two shoots are already in the works.

In make-up

Just wanted to share two of my favorite shots from the day.

RE

Photographers and Artists

Even though Photography and Art can go hand in hand, they are sometimes seen as two very separate things. Being in a position where I come in to contact with several different types of photographers, this separation has become very apparent to me. A lot of product and even food photographers I know tend to look at their work as something that is technically pleasing and aesthetically composed, but isn't necessarily a work of art. I have to agree with them, even though they are still using a creative process to design a shot, it lacks a certain artistry and meaning. The same can even be said about certain types of portraiture.

This is why I'm always curious to hear how other photographers see themselves and whether or not they consider themselves artists. I have great interest in what other types of art forms photographers dabble in, if they do. All artists actually. Does the painter write music? Does the musician draw? I feel truly creative brains tend to explore different mediums.

One of the reasons I fell in love with photography was because it gave me one more way to express myself artistically. It was another way I could show others how I see the world. But, photography wasn't my first love, even though it has dominated my life. I grew up with a great appreciation for music and have been drawing before I can remember. It can even be said that drawing helped me to become the photographer I am today. Even with my interest in photography taking over, I still find it important to continue with my drawings and have recently taken to writing music, as a way to keep from getting burned out by something I love.

Here are a few examples of drawings.

As well as a link to my soundcloud The RueBird

RE

Capstone and Retrain my Artistic Brain

I often reflect on my work and the progress I’ve made over the last two years.  I was happy when I made the decision to go back to school, but I can’t help but feel that I lost a bit of myself artistically. My first few semesters where nothing but technical work, leaving little room to work on personal project. I’ve decided to rekindle what I’ve lost by creating a new body of work.

I am approaching this body of work very differently. Normally when I start shooting a photo series I work around a concept I’ve created, that reflects a strong personal connection to something I want to express visually, in the photos themselves. This time the importance of this body of work is not necessarily what I’m shooting, but why I’m shooting.

Over the next few months I will be creating a small body of work depicting absurd fashion with a heavy overlays of surrealism. The point of this series is to take my newfound knowledge and retrain my artistic brain. The plan is to learn how to successfully merge the artist I once was with the photographer I am now.

My work has definitely become more polished and professional, but I feel I have lost a very important and more artistic edge that used to be more apparent in my work. These are just a few examples of my current style.

I have been doing a lot of research, exposing myself to as much imagery as possible. I've come across so much amazing work that has begun to inspire me.