I've been a photographer since middle school and have photographed everything from western landscapes to high dollar high heels. My favorite images are environmental portraits of my family (which is what led me to portraiture.) Out of all of my images, I get the most comments and complements about the above three. The top two are my grandmothers and the lower image is a long time family friend.
Professionally, I'm a digital photographer. However, for much of my personal work, I shoot large format film (the big, wooden cameras that photographers like Ansel Adams and Walker Evans made famous.) Besides the big negative giving so much detail, large format provides a different, slow and methodical, way of working.
I enjoy portraits for so many reasons. Creativity, lighting and print quality are all important (I can stare at a technically perfect print for hours,) but what I really like is that we change. We photograph our kids every day because we know they'll be bigger tomorrow. We make a big deal out of high school seniors and weddings because that part of life will never happen again. When we get older we're so happy that we have these memories to look back on and share. When we pass, our family is so appreciative that we took the time to sit for a portrait.
All three of the above pictures were shot within the last year of their lives and are the last images that my family members have of them. I think these are great pictures. The women look like themselves. Technically, I did everything right. But most of all, I'm just happy that I took them.
