Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Perfect Day to be a Photographer

I have been wainted to expand on photographing people without a real "fine art" purpose & rather just to photograph simple beauty, texture & color. A few weeks back, my boyfriend and I were driving in the back alley way of my dad's neighborhood. I quickly fell in love with the endless "backdrops" & textures that I found just in the alley way. Beautiful natural, wild vines, stucco buildings, wood panels, a rainbow of colors & simple urban settings. The next step was for me to find someone that was available for a quick photo shoot. Below are three photographs that feature a past student of mine, Kelly. I asked her to be in my photographs because she has a wonderfule sense of style & such a bubbly & enthusiastic personality!

The first photograph features Kelly sitting in a small opening that has been created by a recycling bin within these beautiful vines that are found on the back fence of my dad's house. After shooting all of the photographs and sitting down to look at them, I decided that I wanted to play around with the color by desaturating or making certain photographs more red or more blue. The lighting & shadows in this photograph play well with illuminating her features. I took this photograph with a macro lens that gives the edges this strange glow adding colors that are not really there but are being heightened by how the lens is reading the light. I enjoy the look that becomes of it. I caught Kelly with her eyes closed not on purpose, but she looks serene & relaxed. What do you think? Do you see a story emerging from the vines?

This next photograph was taken against a small back house that met the alley way. It was pale yellow with these wonderfully thin, starving for attention, brown vines scaling up the side. Dead leaves dangled from the top of the building which added to the already intriguing texture. The lighting was shaded compared to the previous scene, however, gave us beautiful soft lighting. I decided to bump up the red & yellow tones within the entire image as well as bring out the white which is rarely found within the image aside from her dress. Another great aspect that is quite lovely about this image is the play in repetition with her hair and that of the vines. They are similar in color & create magnificent long vertical lines throughout the photograph.

Last, but not least, I chose to feature this image not because it is the most beautiful or well lit image, but because of how her body language seems to tell the viewer a story. The placement of her hands & feet create (for me) a sense of searching or wondering where someone is; waiting for something or someone to come to a planned meeting. The shadows, though strong & a little overwhelming add the little bit of texture on the paneled building that mimics the texture found in the foilage at the bottom. The two appreciated aspects are the repetition of vertical ines & the repeitition of the texture. What kind of story are you seeing in her body language (if any)?

Please, as always, make sure to comment & give me thoughts and feedback! You canfind all of Kelly's photographs under SPECIAL MOMENTS. Please peruse the website. Don't forget to go to CONTACT which is found under ABOUT for any comments, inquiries, feedback or criticism. Thanks for being a part of THE WIRE!