4 0f 31 - A Post a Day in May

A son who lives far away commissioned a portrait of his parents. I thought this was the sweetest inquiry I've ever had.

They were a darling couple, and a delight to shoot. 

 

A Post a Day in May- 3 of 31

*This spring marks 10 year anniversary of trading money for portraits. Stay tuned for a portrait special TBA.* 

A recent Maternity Newborn session. I enjoy these very much. I get to celebrate the mother and then get to come back and celebrate the baby and new family!! It's a great privilege.

We did the Maternity session on Signal Hill. Literally endless scenes and backdrops to be found. 

Beautiful Mom-to-be. 

Bronica 645 + Tmax.

Holga and bright sun always means fun leaks.

Here are three versions of the same photo. First up - straight and stylish. 

This is Holga with overlapping frames. It is as easy as not manually advancing the film all the way to the next frame. The image is exactly as it appears on the strip of film, including all the film edges. This is something I do at almost every session but it's always a gamble since it relies heavily on the highly sophisticated technique of guessing. In this case I guessed correctly and this was ordered as a fantastic 12x20 print. Framed up it looked amazing. 

This one might be my favourite. It was the last frame of the day. I said "last frame say hi to your baby - she's in the camera" and the parents just LIT UP! For a very split second they looked for her in the camera and it was adorable. 

Who wouldn't be excited to see this little darling?

Sweet little baby who was loved by all generations.

A new family was born!!

Sealskin!! I need to get one. 

A Post a day in May - 2 of 31

This spring marks 10 year anniversary of trading portraits for money. I'll use that as an excuse/motivation to update my online portfolios, revisit some old favourites and talk about techniques and other fun photography type blog stuff that's all about me and my work. 

Today I'll talk about film edges. This is not a talk about photoshop frames or instagram filters. This is the real deal - printing with the edges of the negative showing on the paper (alternative to cropping them out). 

It's a look that I love because it's so "filmy". It also requires that I shoot with an eye for composition and proves that I'm not creating my composition after the fact. This is a source of pride for me. There is nothing wrong with cropping after the fact (and I of course do it on occasion) but I find it harder than composing while I'm looking at the scene. Fact is - I'm lazy and would much rather print full frame, and including the edges adds an artsy look to the final product. I frame them with a white mat cut to show the edges and a bit of the white paper. Beautiful!

Because I scan negatives when showing images online I don't have that lovely film edge. It's something I am going to pay attention to and try and scan more prints instead. 

This is a self portrait made soon after my first in-house darkroom. Maybe 9 years ago? 

And this is from a recent session. One parent has an interesting job using digital photography and as a result really liked the film edges showing on these portraits. 

First is a 35mm negative. If you look really closely you can see sprocket holes (which I print dark on purpose, otherwise I find them distracting).

Second one is a Holga image from same session. Holga's almost always get printed with film edges, I insist. Holga is a medium format camera so no sprocket holes to be found. 

A post a day in May- 1of31

This Spring marks 10 years trading money for portraits. 10 years!!

I am going to use this nugget of information to launch an attempt at a Post a Day in May. 

I will use it as an attempt to catch up on scanning and updating online portfolios. I will also re-visit some favourite images from the past 10 years. I will discuss techniques and processes used in my images. I might even launch a contest or two. 

In the interest of random blog entries let me share this fantastic image that was sent to me a couple of months ago.

First a bit of history: In a prior life I was the worlds best babysitter. It was something I did for many years when my kids were very young. I spent a lot of time with this family and the two older girls were best friends with my oldest daughter until we moved back to St. John's in 2000. Just after we left they added a new sister and 6 years later I was happy to photograph their awesome sisterhood.

Fast forward and now the oldest is a budding photographer and recreated this image and sent it to me. How awesome! Surely I could not have influenced such an interest? I'll say yes.

Great job Kirsten!! Come to St. John's and I'll teach you how to use the darkroom. The door is always open (Unless it's closed - then don't open unless I call "all clear").

Check out her facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/KirstenMannPhotography?fref=ts

Christmas Season Family Session Special

It's december. I am in the midst of printing all kinds of lovely family photos. It is my busiest time of year by far.

I just did a session with a family that had grandparents and uncle make a surprise appearance. So much happiness at being all together and it was a pleasure to be a part of it.

I know that many of you get together for family gatherings that only happen this time of year. Family from far and wide come together and that is very special.

This year why not get some photos taken while you are all together? There is no better time!

From December 27th to January 3rd I will be offering a family photo special!!

For $300 you can have a family photo session that includes everyone! This fee gets you the session, online proofing, and an 11x14 handmade fibre enlargement of your choice! This is a great opportunity to get that photo grandma always wants - the whole family!

Contact me donna@donnaramsay.com or call my cell at 689-6734.

Wrestling

These guys are great clients of mine. You might recognize them from past photo sessions. This time we decided that instead of our usual Signal Hill we would hang out in their backyard. This allowed some pretty serious playing and wrestling which allowed me to get some seriously fun photos.

Rhonda's Family

I have a friend named Rhonda. Her family was going to be all together in the same city at the same time so we thought it best to do a family portrait. It was a sunny Sunday in her mother's yard. I photographed the family, then the families within the families, and various other combinations.

I did some *regular* groups shots. Then I had a lot of fun with Holga. One of the great things about the Holga is that it's dead simple to do double exposures and/or overlapping exposures. For my amusement I did some overlapping exposure type group shots with Holga.  This was printed as 5"x14" and is really fun.

Family.

For comparisons sake, here is a Bronica shot of the same scene.

Another  with the same Holga technique. Siblings.

Here are the individual families.

Look at this little guy! He is a pro at just a couple of months old.

Then a few weeks later as luck would have it Rhonda's husband's family was all going to be together in the same city at the same time for the first time in a long time. I was delighted when asked to photograph that family as well. We headed up to Cape Spear where the objective was just the group all in the same photo looking lovely. We were tossed about by the wind, but that's half the fun of Cape Spear.

And for good measure a siblings group. Holga.

I have now met every single member of Rhonda's family, until more babies are born.