Month: August 2017

Featured Artist – Angela Douglas

Featured, Featured Artist

Angela Douglas is a mom of four and a documentary photographer in Virginia who is in the middle of her second 365. You can find more of her work at her website, Facebook, and Instagram. Here is what she had to say to our contributors:

Jenny: I love your images! And your compositions are incredible! There is so much happening in all of your images with your amazing use of layering. It certainly doesn’t seem to be chance, so do you set out to capture layers in your frame and just wait for the right moment when everything comes together? Do you have any advice in using layers?

First off, thank you so much for the compliment. Both my husband and I come from large families so I’ve really been forced to learn how to shoot with lots of layers and complex compositions. I find that I’m drawn to the chaos of that though. Once I learned how to utilize micro-composition in my photography (from a class at Clickin Moms), I started using that technique much more often in my images. I find myself hanging out where the scene seems to flow the best and waiting for that perfect shot. My advice to you all would to be patient and shoot a lot more often. The more shots taken, then better your chances are of that one perfect image.

Jessica: You do a fantastic job of capturing your family life and the feeling of your kids’ childhood. Having four kids myself and three of them being teenagers, my shooting of them has changed. Do you find that your kids’ attitude about you making pictures of them has changed at all? Do they mind you documenting their lives? How do you respect their privacy and still follow your heart (and eye) as an artist?

At the moment, the only child of mine who gets upset and sometimes asks me not to post something on InstaGram or Facebook is my 7-year-old son. My daughters really don’t seem to mind at all, I guess you can say they are well adjusted to being behind the lens. I do my best to stay cognizant of the fact that my older girls are on Instagram and I wouldn’t want them to feel embarrassed about something I posted. I sometimes will ask them if they approve of me posting before doing so. And I do still make it a point to photograph them when they’re upset or displaying their quirky habits, I just choose not to post those ones for the world to see. There has to be some privacy, right?

Gemma: There is so much quirkiness and personality jumping out of your images! I love how you have honed into the feeling of the moment and representing the characteristics of each person over all else in each frame. Is there something that has helped you develop this style as you approach a scene? Any tips you have learned along the way to achieve this level of authenticity with your older children?

I love to find the humor in our everyday lives. The normal day to day activities. When the kids spill milk all over the dining room table, instead of getting mad or upset, we laugh a little then clean it up. I do my best not to sweat the small stuff. I feel very fortunate to have children who are very comfortable in their skin and are not afraid to be goofy. They help me create these images by having these larger than life personalities. My older girls have grown up in front of a camera and don’t seem to mind being photographed all the time, although I keep waiting for the day when they finally decide they’ve had enough and fuss at me about it.

Meg: Your photos seem to tell the story of the love your family shares. Do you feel like your kids are able to see that in your photos? What do you think is your biggest reason you take these types of photos of your family?

I hope they can. I want my children to not only see the love I have for them but the love they have for each other when they look back through our annual family albums we create. My biggest reason for doing what I do is the memories, I get to capture all these memories of my children growing up that I can look back on and they will be able to look back on as well. Growing up, I was always that child that loved to look through old photo albums….wondering about the families in the pictures and what their stories were like.

Kym: You capture such great action; how many frames do you tend to take before you get THE ONE?

Some days it feels like I’m taking thousands and thousands. For example, this week we’ve been camping and some of the days I have 300 frames and others, I actually do have around 1,000. I shoot so much that I recently had to get the shutter replaced in my camera. I told you, the more you take the better.

Robin: Since this is your second 365, do you find yourself shooting differently than from your first 365?

Definitely. This time around I am more relaxed about it. With shooting a 365, I’ve realized somedays I feel more inspired and others not so much, so if I miss a day, I don’t let myself feel guilty for it. Right now I am also doing a monthly Day in the Life, so sometimes I take a break the day after so I don’t feel burnt out. The camera and I need a breather too sometimes.

I also consider my street photography as a part of my 365 where as before, I had rules in place for it, that family was all that I was allowed to shoot. I’m learning to let go and not sweating the small stuff.

*****

Want information on how you can be a featured artist? Check out our submission page for all the details.

connecting with clients: don’t be a photographer, be human

Contributor Articles

Why is the ability to connect with others so important in documentary photography? Well, because you’re in the privacy of someone’s home, observing them in their most intimate relationships, where they are the most vulnerable. There aren’t very many families that would invite you (a stranger) into this very sacred place, let alone “act natural” while you’re there. Let’s face it, that’s even a tough task to ask ourselves to accomplish. Which is why connecting with people is so vital to achieving authentic photos.

“Connection is the energy that is created between people when they feel seen, heard, and valued–when they can give and receive without judgment.” Brene Brown

Based on this definition of connection, I grew up in a home having none. I come from a broken family and with it came broken connections. It wasn’t an environment anyone in my life meant to put me in, but sometimes a culmination of life choices made by others that came before you, lands in your lap and you’re left trying to figure out how to undo it all. This heavy past combined with the fact that I’m an introvert, made it difficult, to say the least, for me to connect with people.

Over the years I’ve learned that if part of connecting means to “feel seen, heard, and valued” then empathy plays a huge role here. Have you ever had a really bad day, and a friend or family member understood exactly how you felt, as if they were in your brain? It feels both amazing and relieving at the same time.

The ability to identify with what another feels, whether that feeling is big or small, is a skill that comes so naturally to some. I am not one of them. For me, it’s something I had to learn, practice, and have yet to master.  But each day that I encounter someone new is an opportunity for me to get better at this skill.

So what is the point in sharpening this skill?

We are social beings and have been created with a need for connection. There’s a reason we live in communities and not isolated caves on a 3 acre island.  Showing empathy let’s others know that they are seen, heard and valued, which fosters connection, and leads to people knowing that you are human. This is how your clients connect with you and start to forget that you’re a photographer. Instead, you become this very pleasant person that just so happens to be hanging out for the day. Now doesn’t that sound much more relaxing than a stranger pointing a camera at you?

And that’s all any of us want in this life: to know that you are not some robotic creature with perfect life formulas, no history of malfunctions, and a fail rate of zero. No. People want to see that you’re human, flaws and all.

Show them that, and they’ll show YOU that while you snap away.

What are some ways you get your clients to “act natural”?

Community Critique – Anonymous

Community Critique

This week we have an anonymous critique, and this image was shot with a Canon Mark III.

Critique today comes from Felicia and Lacey.

Felicia: For me, this image captures my attention first with its mirroring in posture. The way the cat and the girl are positioned with their heads to the left side of the frame; it brings an implied line to read in that direction. As eyes are trained to read from left to right, this introduces tension to the image.

There is a bright spot to the right of the frame that is distracting and understandably challenging to manage because of the white cat, without losing the texture of its fur. Exposure is managed well in this case as the cat’s highlights are not blown. Unless the girl moves out of this bright spot, it cannot be eliminated from composing the frame without compromising the significance of the mirrored postures.

Compositionally, I do think you could have gotten closer to eliminate a lot of the space around them as it doesn’t serve as effective negative space or add context to the image.

As strong as the mirroring in posture is, and the suggestive states of rest and relaxation between the girl and the cat, the moment itself is not a loud one. To me, I am intrigued with the far away look in the girl’s eyes, and it makes me wonder what she is thinking of, or where her thoughts are, although that gesture is seeminly unrelated to the cat cleaning its paw. In that way, the subjects are not connected or reacting towards each other, any more than their postures are mirroring. I want to see a moment that tells me something more about their relationship.

The choice to convert to black and white and the warm tint for processing is unclear to me. I am curious about the child’s wardrobe – are the colours going to be able to add more to the story of her as a subject? Are there subtle stains that add more information?

For me, this image leaves me wanting to know more about their relationship so I would ask, if you had to reshoot this, how can you shoot this differently to say something about their relationship?

Lacey: First off, I love the mirroring you were able to capture in this photo! Great eye! The conversion to black and white works well for this image as it further cements the repetition between the cat and the child. They become a matching pair in their light tone with dark mouth and eyes. Getting down low to eye level helped them be fully encompassed by the dark field of the sofa behind them. If you had been at a different angle where one of them broke the horizon line of the sofa the photo would not have the same effect. It looks like the image may be overexposed slightly. It appears that the light that falls on the child’s clothing is a bit overblown. I would recommend shooting at lower exposure to retain that information and then using some light dodging and burning to help equalize the high key area. Our eye as the viewer is drawn to the lightest area first, which is great as that bring emphasis to the child and cat, but it is not great for drawing the eye to the overblown shirt and pants and light area of the couch. Overall this is a strong photo, and utilizing the adjustment brush in lightroom to take care of the hot highlights will make it even better.

*****
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