looking {back}

there must be an automated clock of some kind in me as this is the time of year that i instinctively look over what kind of work i’ve produced over the past year. i evaluate and compare what i intended to do and what i ended up creating. i didn’t have too much to look back through portrait-wise from this past year as my time was spent {you know where.} still, i always find it interesting to see where my work is headed compared to where it’s been. this first photo of gabriella and my niece tasha caught my eye while i was in our sitting room earlier today and it compelled me to go back and look through the original files from that session from about 4 years back.

right away, a few things were sorely obvious to me.
one. i shot with more abandon.
two. i engaged light more freely.
three. boy, i was into titling my camera a lot more!

to this day, my subject matter is still so similar to what it was when i was 15, 16, 17…shooting my little sister in my bedroom with a sheet hanging up over my closet doors behind her, window light coming in from the other side of  the room, dressing her, fixing her hair and makeup and both telling her what to do and then just catching her in-betweens. i’m most naturally drawn to people, and usually with a little bit of drama. for those of you who know how much i love photographing children, that came into play much, much later…but even then, i do love the images that are a bit on the moodier side.

this session made me think of my ‘much earlier work’ and so i pulled out some of my film sessions from back in the day. i’ve scanned an image here and there, but now i’m compelled to scan more of it. i wonder ~ if you didn’t know ~ would you guess think they were from me. interesting?

for today, here is miss gabriella after i dressed her up, fixed her hair and makeup, sometimes telling her what to do and other times, just catching her in-betweens. {i can’t believe she was only 14}