Regardless of all the downsides, I am still happy to shoot with the 5D Mark I. The images have a unique “feel” that remind me of film.
Original Canon 5D Still Going Strong | Contrastly
The more I use my 5D, the more I love its unique look. Tough, great photo files – it’s my everyday shooter.
Affordable away to get into full-frame photography, too, and proof you don’t need the latest and greatest to be creative.
Toward the end of last summer, as I was wrapping up my Artists In Jackson project, I went to an art show here in town to discover other Jackson-area artists. I left with one piece of art: Jenna VanDusen’s “Jackson” light painting photographer (top), and it now hangs in my home.
Jenna is a local fine art and portrait/wedding photographer, and her work is great. She uses light painting in great locations to make her work, and she works on family and wedding portraits through her Dream Real Photo & Video studio.
I’m Jenna! A mother of a little three year old sweetie, a freelance videographer, and operator of Dream Real Photo & Video, LLC.
My father is a photographer of many many years, so of course that’s where it began. With my interest in video, I took classes for photography as well. I thought it was important to know my camera in this way while using my DSLR for video.
Simplicity, natural beauty, imagination, try to be original!
It is a lot of fun! Inspiration began when learning about long exposure! I was blown away seeing work from photographer Gjon Mili as he captured light paintings with figure skaters and Picasso! Those images are so magical to me, done around 1947. Patience is key, to do it over and over, fixing your mistakes. Planning and visualizing what you want and how you’re going to pull it off is key. Being at a certain location is where the inspiration starts and then what to draw, or vis versa.
For any photographer I think to reach out to or connect to someone is a goal, but to add the light is to add a feeling too, and adding color can easily change the feeling.
Everything. My goal is to appreciate and do all types of photography. I feel like not only am I practicing about that way to shoot or technique but it’s an insight into … everything, which is what I enjoy most, the experience. Photography documents the beauty in life – which can be narrowed to two very broad categories: people and nature, together or apart, in many aspects!
Everyone is a dreamer. I’m all for realistically accomplishing your dreams. My hope is that my photography lets viewers to escape reality, but also brings inspiration for them in their lives.
Projects are constant! Creatively I have a few ideas that i’ve been thinking about for as long as a year. Ideas just snowball and get bigger, which means more planning and taking steps for correct resources.
As much I appreciate and won’t stop doing light paintings free hand, I’m beginning a even more modern take on it, and incorporating light more into video and with clients, which is really exciting.
I’d like to work more with artists in Jackson with light painting [Wonder Woman with Doug Jones, above]. Everything I draw is very simple, which I love! But I think there is much to be done.
I’m also doing a personal 52 Week Photography project with Hayley Woodward, where we pick out a theme/subject/shooting technique and practice!
Find more of Jenna’s work on her Dream Real Photo & Video Facebook page and Instagram profile.
I’m a sucker for golden hour photography, especially with portraits. That’s why I was so drawn to photographer Mila’s work on her Flickr gallery, We The People.
Especially that second shot, “song of wind.” So carefree and honest. That shot made me want to reach out and learn more.
Something I’ve noticed, seeing more and more photography, is all the great stuff coming out of Russia. Talent is world-wide, but there’s something about Russian photographers – they keep popping up in my Tumblr and Instagram feed.
Here’s my chat with Mila.
My name is Mila, and I’m a photographer from Moscow, Russia.
As a child, I played with Dad’s film cameras. It was the starting point for my interest.
Photography by itself! 🙂 This is one of the main passions in my life. I’m just happy when I can shoot something.
I think creative people draw inspiration from everywhere. Depending on the moment, the mood of different things can cause the need for self-expression through photography.
To be more specific, I’m love nature and sunlight with all my heart. Any natural light, especially at sunrise or sunset, is so beautiful! It’s always inspiring. Photos in this light are always a little magical. Often I see the place first and instantly imagine what theme I want to shoot there.
When I work with a model, the final result is the merit of both of us. With any model, you can always get a couple of good shots, but the work becomes really interesting when the model knows her job and understands what purpose and mood I am pursuing.
I really love a free, natural style, with small ethnic and boho elements. I don’t always stick to this theme, but it’s really “mine.”
Unfortunately, now my town is in snowy winter, and I don’t like shooting in the studio. Therefore, I have many ideas, and and all of them are waiting for the arrival of spring and warmth.
Check out more of Mila’s work on her Flickr gallery. You can also check out her blog, We The People.
Kris Matheson is a Tokyo-based photographer whose urban and abstract work has been a lot of fun to watch. Kris and I both participate in the On Taking PIctures podcast G+ group, and he keeps an archive of the show’s Photographers of the Week and Weekly Assignments.
What I like about Kris’s work is his exploration of different photo subjects. You’ll see him venture down a certain road, project-wise, and then change gears and create totally different work. It’s a lot of fun to watch.
I’m from a small town in Northern Ontario (Canada) but have been living and working in Tokyo for the past nine years. I currently work as a freelance English Language Instructor, and walk around a lot with my camera.
I got into photography to document my experiences in Japan for family and friends back home, this was way back in 2006. It wasn’t until 2012 that I shifted focus onto what I wanted to photograph to show how I see the world around me. So really, moving to Japan is what got me into photography.
If I am open and honest, I walk a fine line of having a love-hate relationship with my photography. It’s taken sometime to find what I am interested in rather than shooting to please other people. I like just being able to take my camera with me day after day to explore. I often revisit the same areas — when I have breaks at work I go out, so I’ve been walking some of the same streets for years now and still manage to find something that interests me.
Most of my inspiration comes from what I see on the street as I walk around. This past year I started using Instagram and have found it to be a great source of inspiration. I am also inspired by the work of Dennis Hopper, Saul Leiter, and Uta Barth.
Probably one of the best things I started doing in recent years to help keep myself busy is having an Idea Journal (full of terribly bad ideas). This helps me to keep track of places to revisit (and “why”), I also write down interesting things I listened to or read, and things I’ve seen, it’s also a place to write out ideas for images or a project I would like to explore. Some of these ideas get turned into mini-projects, most don’t get posted online since they die shortly after I start them (some live and die inside the pages of my journal). Having this journal is great because I can look back for old ideas and inspiration, and can re-explore when I want. I feel its important to constantly explore the world around me, and having small projects engages and pushes to always be out photographing or thinking about new things.
I explore a lot of urban scenes and more recently abstraction, often with the focus more on colour and geometry. As a side project I have also started exploring memory and destruction in photography, there’s a personal project I’ve been working on around that theme and hope to expand it in the coming year — the theme of destruction in art has really been interesting, creating something and then destroying it is fascinating to me, it’s a little more difficult in digital photography but still intriguing to explore.
This year I will continue exploring abstraction in photography, and try to incorporate portraits into this theme. I am also working on some collaborations with other photographers and artists, hopefully see what that brings as the year progresses.
See more of Kris’s work on his personal site, and follow along at his Instagram profile.
Spent some time the last few weeks going through my CD collection. I bought two of those big binders, and am working on putting all my physical music into those and recycling (if possible) the jewel cases.
Some of them are pretty hard to part with. Some come in lovely gatefold digipacks, and deluxe-edition album editions. But all that plastic is taking up a lot of space.
So now, instead of four slots in our IKEA Expedit shelf, all that music is taking up two – one for the two big binders, and one for the box sets that I just can’t part with (Pink Floyd, I’m looking at you).
I am keeping the booklets, so at least I’ll have lyrics and liner notes. Although I did think about dumping those because everything’s online these days. Part of me just can’t part with the album art.
You want to test your emotional discipline, start eliminating bits of the stuff you love the most.
Process Driven: Gregory Crewdson
Super excited about Gregory Crewdson’s next body of work, Cathedral of the Pines. He’s been all over the news in the past few weeks, but do me a favor and listen to Jeffery Saddoris’s interview with him on Process Driven.
Good Sunday listening by one of the great modern photographers.
Prayer (and Penthouse) Can Change Your Life – Jonesville, Michigan
During the winter, especially in January, it’s hard for me to make photographs. Usually, I tackle some other kind of project during the cold months – a photo book, or a portrait project idea, or just catching up on editing photos I made during the warmer months.
This year, I’m trying something a little different.
Over and above photos, I like making things. Books, videos, graphics, tinkering with electronics, etc. Keeping my hands or my brain busy is important to me.
It’s why, above and beyond portraits, my Artists In Jackson project is so multi-layered. I wanted a book and a website and an eBook, and so on.
So this January, I’m sending some photographers I like questions, and each week I’ll feature a different photographer profile. The profiles will include a sample of their work, some background, and then a question and answer session.
Portrait photographers, landscape photographers, abstract photographers – I’m working on getting a variety of styles.
It’s a way for me to learn more about my favorite photographers, and to share the work that I appreciate. It also gives them a tiny bit of promotion – my way of sharing the love. And the editor in me loves this kind of project, where I mix and match a bunch of good material into a cohesive whole.
Read the photographer profiles »
(And if you’re interested in participating, please send me a note!)
