A friend of MEG captured some footage from our experience at the DC Fine Art Photography Fair earlier this month. It was an excellent event and we look forward to its return next year.
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4 years ago
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Monday, October 7, 2013
Taking It To The Streets
Karen Keating's latest work, STREET PORTRAITS, features images from two Easters -- one in Sicily and the other in Key West. Below Karen shares some thoughts on why street photography is so compelling and what it takes to practice it well.
Why is the street such an alluring subject? Most photographers begin their photo interest on the street – practicing camera basics, responding to the scene, and making order out of chaos. The question is what makes some of us stay on the street – gravitating to the unknown?
My street shooting is focused primarily on street portraits. My continuing interest and curiosity is people – their ordinary lives and daily rituals. I am not interested in staging shots, nor do I want to work in a studio environment. I want to watch, observe, and spontaneously react to the mixture of light, structure and people as they live their lives. I like to watch, observe, and wait. I do not hide, or use a long lens, often having a short conversation, some times not. The street offers abundant opportunities and challenges. I need to be prepared, to be the perpetual student, and trust that there will be images. I am always richer for the experience of working on the street.
Have portraits always been an interest of yours? My graduate school fine art photo thesis was A Colloquy: Mothers and Daughters, which focused on adolescent daughters and their mothers, middle-age daughters with their elderly mothers, and three generations of mothers and daughters. This extensive portfolio focused on capturing moments of the complex mother-daughter relationship. Often my focus is on the relationships, but equally I am interested in the person enjoying solitude.
When I am in my city, my environment and I am busy teaching or organizing the program and instructors at Photoworks, my shooting mornings or evenings are in the woods or near the creek in the neighborhood. I seem to need time away from people, finding the light and reacting to the mood of the moment. However, when traveling I almost never take landscape images, but concentrate on watching people and waiting for moments that reveal a sliver of their life or interests or daily ritual.
The images in your current show at Multiple Exposures Gallery come from Sicily and Key West, two very different locations and cultures. How do the locations you chose to shoot in influence the images you capture? The Sicilians, in preparation for Easter, presented my first look at a religious event and the elaborate preparations and seriousness
of the weeklong affair. Photographers from many European countries and the U.S. flock to several small towns in Sicily to capture the complexity and importance of Easter Week. It is truly photographing a five-day event with Good Friday being a 24-hour non-stop parade of altars throughout Marsala. The enactment and emotions are intense. I am not sure that I knew what to expect and I found the ten days a profound challenge.
A year later, I was in Key West for Easter. I have photographed in Key West many times and have found Bahama Village to be my preferred neighborhood. Bahama Village is off
the beaten path of the well-known tourism in Key West. I always prefer to select a section of a city, a neighborhood to concentrate on observing daily life whether it is Havana, London, and Kampala.
In preparing for this exhibit the contrast in the two Easters seemed distinct – certainly in my emotional reaction to the two Easters. I do not think that it was the locations alone, but rather the differences in emotions between the solemnity of Marsala and the joy of Bahama Village after Easter services. With any street shooting, there is a combination of the observed emotions and the photographers. I am sure that this is true in most genres of photography.
Tell us what you think it takes to be a successful street photographer? I am not certain that being a successful street photographer is any different from being a good studio, landscape or still life photographer. Often I define myself as a documentary photographer gravitating to street portraits. I know that I want to be on the street, observing, watching daily life. Most often I stay still or wander slowly believing that an image will emerge. At all costs, I try to avoid “chasing” images. Sometimes I engage people in conversation, sometimes not. But always the people are aware that I am taking photos.
I believe that there needs to be an artistic challenge when shooting – uncertainty, tension, an edge, even butterflies. The anticipation to capture a moment or ever-illusive images is always present. Often when I am on the street, I doubt that there will be any images during that shoot.
The chaos of form on the street is always a factor and then there is the experience of “just missing” a moment of significance. In the end, the street photographer must be prepared and react to the moving images and events. Planning or organizing on the street seems to be a sure method for being on the outside of events. The planning aspect is before I take the camera out of the bag and before I load the film. Once on the street, I am eager to find the visual adrenaline while watching the stream of life. It is a combination of these feelings, which keeps image making enduring, challenging, and rewarding to me.
STREET PORTRAITS can be seen at Multiple Exposures Gallery at the Torpedo Factory Art Center through October 13, 2013.
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| (c) Karen Keating |
Why is the street such an alluring subject? Most photographers begin their photo interest on the street – practicing camera basics, responding to the scene, and making order out of chaos. The question is what makes some of us stay on the street – gravitating to the unknown?
My street shooting is focused primarily on street portraits. My continuing interest and curiosity is people – their ordinary lives and daily rituals. I am not interested in staging shots, nor do I want to work in a studio environment. I want to watch, observe, and spontaneously react to the mixture of light, structure and people as they live their lives. I like to watch, observe, and wait. I do not hide, or use a long lens, often having a short conversation, some times not. The street offers abundant opportunities and challenges. I need to be prepared, to be the perpetual student, and trust that there will be images. I am always richer for the experience of working on the street.
Have portraits always been an interest of yours? My graduate school fine art photo thesis was A Colloquy: Mothers and Daughters, which focused on adolescent daughters and their mothers, middle-age daughters with their elderly mothers, and three generations of mothers and daughters. This extensive portfolio focused on capturing moments of the complex mother-daughter relationship. Often my focus is on the relationships, but equally I am interested in the person enjoying solitude.
When I am in my city, my environment and I am busy teaching or organizing the program and instructors at Photoworks, my shooting mornings or evenings are in the woods or near the creek in the neighborhood. I seem to need time away from people, finding the light and reacting to the mood of the moment. However, when traveling I almost never take landscape images, but concentrate on watching people and waiting for moments that reveal a sliver of their life or interests or daily ritual.
The images in your current show at Multiple Exposures Gallery come from Sicily and Key West, two very different locations and cultures. How do the locations you chose to shoot in influence the images you capture? The Sicilians, in preparation for Easter, presented my first look at a religious event and the elaborate preparations and seriousness
 |
| (c) Karen Keating |
A year later, I was in Key West for Easter. I have photographed in Key West many times and have found Bahama Village to be my preferred neighborhood. Bahama Village is off
In preparing for this exhibit the contrast in the two Easters seemed distinct – certainly in my emotional reaction to the two Easters. I do not think that it was the locations alone, but rather the differences in emotions between the solemnity of Marsala and the joy of Bahama Village after Easter services. With any street shooting, there is a combination of the observed emotions and the photographers. I am sure that this is true in most genres of photography.
Tell us what you think it takes to be a successful street photographer? I am not certain that being a successful street photographer is any different from being a good studio, landscape or still life photographer. Often I define myself as a documentary photographer gravitating to street portraits. I know that I want to be on the street, observing, watching daily life. Most often I stay still or wander slowly believing that an image will emerge. At all costs, I try to avoid “chasing” images. Sometimes I engage people in conversation, sometimes not. But always the people are aware that I am taking photos.
I believe that there needs to be an artistic challenge when shooting – uncertainty, tension, an edge, even butterflies. The anticipation to capture a moment or ever-illusive images is always present. Often when I am on the street, I doubt that there will be any images during that shoot.
The chaos of form on the street is always a factor and then there is the experience of “just missing” a moment of significance. In the end, the street photographer must be prepared and react to the moving images and events. Planning or organizing on the street seems to be a sure method for being on the outside of events. The planning aspect is before I take the camera out of the bag and before I load the film. Once on the street, I am eager to find the visual adrenaline while watching the stream of life. It is a combination of these feelings, which keeps image making enduring, challenging, and rewarding to me.
STREET PORTRAITS can be seen at Multiple Exposures Gallery at the Torpedo Factory Art Center through October 13, 2013.
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Daily Contemplative Photography Makes A Difference
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| (c) Colleen Henderson |
Your new show, DAILY DIFFERENCES, contains images you created over the past five years during periods of deliberate daily shooting. What drove you to begin this project? It was a convergence of two things. A “contemplative photography” class I took on a whim, and my longtime interest in pursuing a “365 Project.” Contemplative photography is a way of stepping back and looking at everyday things, even those that are mundane, with fresh eyes to find beauty within them. At the time, my photographic roots lay firmly in black & white land and seascapes, and night images of DC. When I felt daring, I allowed myself some latitude by exploring in color, but otherwise I followed a predictable path when making my art. My exploration of contemplative photography was meant to push me outside of my comfort zone and continue my creative development.
My first assignment was to spend three hours meandering through Cleveland Park, a Washington, D.C. neighborhood, and bring back 10 photographs for “show & tell”. For the first few hours, I wandered, wondering what I could possibly see and capture that was worthy of sharing and would not reveal me as a photographer fraud. But then something happened. Images began to appear before my eyes—faster than I could click the shutter. Over the course of three days I saw—and photographed—my world in ways I’d never imagined.
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| (c) Colleen Henderson |
Where does the 365 Project come in? About the same time, I’d been toying with the idea of a embarking on a “365 Project,” a concept that can be traced back to Jim Brandenburg, a National Geographic Society photographer. In the late 1990’s, Jim challenged himself to make one photograph each day for 90 days. The results were published in a 1998 book, Chasing the Light. The images and concept really struck a chord with me and I imagined embarking on a similar project some day. In addition to making images, I also teach fine art photography, and one day I suggested to the members of a class that they consider undertaking a 365 Project. As fate would have it one student embraced the idea and invited (read: challenged!) me to join her. The timing was right, and besides, how could I refuse? The rest is history.
You’ve taken this project much further than 365 days. What’s kept you going? I’ve been shooting daily images and sharing them on Facebook on and off for 5 years now. The rewards have been manifold. I have many new images that otherwise would not have been made, but I expected that. What I didn’t foresee was the impact it’s had on my photography. I see and compose better. I judge less and reveal more. I have more clarity of purpose. I better understand light, and how the camera records it. I’m more mindful of my immediate surroundings. And I’m more playful, confident and creative.
Do you set out to shoot each day or do you always have a camera with you and just photograph something when it strikes you? It varies, but more often than not, my shots are something I capture as I go about my daily business. Coffee and Cream, one of my favorites from the series, was taken when I noticed the juxtaposition of two coffee cups on my counter. Another well-received image in the show captures cherries on a plate in my kitchen. Others, such as Skeleton Tree and Sentinels were taken out in the field during dedicated photo shoots, the former during a workshop I was running in Charleston, South Carolina, and the latter during a sunrise shoot at the U.S. Capitol.
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| (c) Colleen Henderson |
Do you ever worry about running out of material? Not if I stay true to the teachings of contemplative photography. There is always something to capture if we open our minds and eyes to the beauty around us. We can even capture the same thing multiple times, but in different ways, which fosters our creativity.
Your show includes framed fine art prints and beautiful, limited edition, hand bound, books that showcase your images. Why did you opt for that format? I’ve been studying the art of bookmaking for 15 years and wanted to combine my passion for photography with my love of creating small, handmade books. There’s something about holding an image in your hand that’s much more intimate than simply viewing it on a wall, behind glass, and I wanted to create that experience for people. The books are made of Italian silk, smooth gray suede, and handmade Bhutanese paper, all of it bound together with a special Coptic stitch that allows the book to lay flat when open. The books are available in limited editions of five.
DAILY DIFFERENCES is on view at Multiple Exposures Gallery at the Torpedo Factory Arts Center in Alexandria, VA, through October 13, 2013.
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