My first memory of photography is that of my Grandma Kiene lining us to face the sun on Easter morning so she can take our family’s picture. She was placing us as she had been instructed when the technology of the camera required the subject to be “place(ed) in bright sunlight with the photographer having the sun to his/her back.” We would all be squinting and praying that we would be released from our poses quickly. In the picture to the right, she has inserted herself as shadow into our Easter family photo.
As a teenager, when I started working, one of the first big purchases I made was a Nikon SLR camera kit. I photographed my family and the occasional subject of nature with no education beyond the quick start guide that came with the camera. This was the extent of my “craft” for the next twenty years.
In 2007 I began taking photography classes at Tarrant County College Northeast. The first class, Photography I, was shot with black and white film. We learned to develop our exposed film and prints were developed in the darkroom. The amazing feeling of watching the print develop, seeing the image emerge, the smell of the chemicals, the color of the safe lights, all of these hooked me into taking class after class.
Now, over a decade and a half, I’ve taken all the classes offered several times. Now, each semester I create my own project to execute. I focus on one type of camera, one type of processing, one type of lighting and build the project as a way to express creativity and to build a specific skill. Finding a story to tell, storyboarding, staging, shooting, post-processing, and presenting are all part of the creative project.
Several of these projects have involved heirloom family photos. I have been designated as the “curator” of our family’s old photos, some dating back as early as the 1880’s. I am honored with this role and find it quite fascinating to restore the old prints, negatives, and slides and to hear the stories that accompany them, to preserve them and share them with the next generation.
Through most of my projects there is a strong element of portraiture in all it’s different forms. To capture emotion, communicate through the silence, tell a story in a way that changes an image into something that is more than two dimensional is my goal. It is the prime element of my craft. I find inspiration in artists’ works that have withheld the test of time; I study these works, paintings, sketches, and photos to see how the different elements speak to me, what do historians say the works greatest elements are and what do I feel makes them timeless. Then comes the challenge: How can I create a photograph that mimics the light in a great painting? How can I capture and communicate the same sentiment as the subject in another’s work? What will my next project be? Where will the next rabbit hole lead, Alice?