…the Lensbaby composer. It was a very generous Christmas present from my mom. I took it out for a test run when I went walking in the forest on Bowen both Christmas and Boxing day. I’m fascinated with the design of the lens, not just for it’s tilt/shift abilities, but because of the interchangeable f-stop rings that are slipped in and out of the lens using a magnet.
As you can see, I’ve mostly used the lens for nature shots so far. I want to do a series of test shots trying out each f-stop ring on the same subject for comparison, and I also want to try this lens with portraits. Part of me feels the lens is a bit too gimmicky, but the creative part of me will probably prove that wrong.
The wise words of Ira Glass on why creative excellence takes time. I found listening to this very gratifying, especially the part about self-directed projects and deadlines to work towards, because it’s what I’ve been doing for the past two years with fruitful results. I’m producing the best work of my life (so far) and I’m working hard at it. I am occasionally tough on myself because I feel like it’s taken me a forever to get to where I currently am as an artist. But there would’ve been no other way to get here because all good things take time and hard work. (And hard work takes time too.)
As mentioned in a previous blog post, rummaging through my art supplies inspired me to create an altered book with fish. It may just be that I have fish on the brain lately, but rummaging through my supplies reminded me of the gold paper fish I’d bought from Urban Source over the summer. It was high time to use them. I added the red colour to each fish using ink because I didn’t like the plain gold, and now they unintentionally resemble salmon.
I wanted to create a sense of water moving, of waves crashing with the pages, so I began to play around with folding the pages under one another. At first I was only going to do part of the book, but then the more I did, the more it made sense to fold every single page. The Japanese paper I used on the end pages reminds me of the pattern created when raindrops splash into the still water of a pond or lake. The finishing touch of the book was to add the red and white flowers, which were created using a paper punch.
Materials used: Japanese paper, book, flowers made with a paper punch, rubber stamps, ink, and metallic paper fish.
When I came up with the idea to do a portrait with goldfish swimming around my friend Kay, I realized the only way I could pull it off was to get real fish. I needed to be able to photograph them under the same lighting conditions I would be shooting Kay in order to make the fish shots and person shot match. So I went out and bought a pair of goldfish with the long term plan they’d be a permanent fixture in my home. Luckily Boris was okay with the acquisition of more pets and took it upon himself to name the orange fish “Buri“, while I named the speckled brown fish “Astrid“. (Not that either of them get called anything other than fish or fishes most of the time…)
The above image is the result of many hours of work in photoshop, cutting out multiple shots of individual fish to bring together and playing around with colour. I asked Kay during the shoot to pretend the fish were swimming around her and this was one of the expressions she came up with. It was very cute and perfectly suited to holding her breath under an imaginary sea.
This shot of Kay with the goldfish and bowl was early on in the shoot as we were just getting warmed up. It’s cute but I definitely don’t love it as much as the top shot.
When Kay came over to be photographed for the series a few weeks ago she brought a selection of Betsey Johnson dresses and crinolines with her to wear. They were all pretty specular but I loved this one the best because of the bright mix of colours. I usually ask my portrait subjects to bring a few different items to choose from and wear during the shoot. Part of the fun of inviting women friends over for these photo shoots has been getting to see their clothes.
The funny thing about the shoot with Kay, that I didn’t really think about beforehand, was that it didn’t really matter what she was wearing. I was shooting with a specific idea in mind and her clothing was mostly hidden from view. Towards the end of the shoot I decided the fantastic outfit just couldn’t go to waste and did these shots with Kay seated on the floor to showcase the dress. I love how this gave me the opportunity to try a different perspective from my usual style of portraiture.
