Jenna Thompson - Writing & Photography

I have an amazing update. Way back in 2011, I sent out a camera into the wild (if you missed it, click here), asking strangers who found it to take a picture and hide it somewhere for someone else to find. I finally got the camera back on Saturday, 1677 days later. I can't believe that was almost 5 years ago. I didn't know if I would ever see it again or if it would be in any kind of condition to develop, but I've got it, and it's in great shape. It's still undeveloped, but I'll be posting an update once I get that done. I'm very excited!

4:15 PM

This is a special post. Just a day after I delivered the pics of Marita, John messaged me saying how much everyone loved them and that we wondered if I could do pictures for his and Marion's upcoming 25th anniversary (awwwww!).

Of course I was! We had a hard time getting a date that would work---after being rained out once already, it rained again on our "rain date." It was a little disappointing because I could tell everyone was so excited. So I made a proposition: instead of postponing again, I told them I could do two mini sessions instead of one longer session, and we could have some fun outside with the umbrellas and the cold. So off I went to Chelsea, Quebec, with a little plastic baggy to throw over the camera, just in case.

I'm so glad we went ahead. Not only was it a ton of fun, but it was just fun to do something a little different. In addition, the sky is like a giant softbox on grey days, so you don't have to worry about harsh shadows.

I don't always work with my subjects ahead of the shoot on a theme, but Marion provided me with pictures that she particularly liked. They had a distinctly different look and feel than my usual work, so it was nice to play with some new techniques and explore some new "feels." If I hadn't seen the images she showed me, I think we would have had totally different results.

just for fun - this is like that game when you are a kid and you have to find all the differences between two pictures that look the same!

The rings. The bracelet. The hands. The trees and the rocks. A quilt made by John's mom to cuddle under. An Italian leather jacket. I love that everything has meaning and a story.

It can be tricky shooting couples. You want the images to represent who they are and reflect their personalities. Some couples are lovey dovey cuddly and some aren't comfortable with that. You can't ask people do something they wouldn't normally do or it will just look awkward. I know that John isn't the mushy type, but I think Marion is a bit, and it was nice to watch their interactions. John played along and the emotions are genuine, and priceless!

Happy 25th you two! Definitely something to celebrate. Thanks for making me a part of it!

P.S. We still have Part 2 to do!

4:06 PM

The other day I visited Lukas on the way home, so I was running late so when I approached Kanata. It was already starting to get dark, putting the Russian Church close to the highway in stark silhouette. It's funny how a little shift in your routine can really change how you experience things.

I've seen it like this before but was reminded of this lovely sight. It was too late once I get home to get this shot since my gear was scattered all over the place, but last night I set out to catch it. This involved walking through a closed off construction zone, but it was a fun little adventure. I stuck around and took several shots. I'll post them over the next few days.

9:35 AM

I have a funny little story to tell you guys. In Lincoln City, Oregon, we headed down to the beach after dinner at McMenamin's. It's kind of neat there, how people flock to the beach to watch the sunset. Matt and I were goofing around with the camera and the flash, when I noticed a couple close by. There was something peculiar about the way they were behaving, and I said to Matt, "either he just proposed or he's about to." I tried my very hardest not to stare at them.

Somehow we started talking to them later on and it was true--they were very freshly engaged. Since I had the camera set up already, I offered to take a portrait of them as a souvenir of their special day, with a gorgeous Oregon sunset on one of the state's many amazing beaches. We exchanged information and went on our way.

A few weeks later I arrived home and sent them their picture. Congratulations to Parker and Amanda. Wishing you a wonderful wedding, all the best in the future and all the beautiful things that a marriage should be!

1:50 PM

What can I say? This shoot has a special place in my heart!

There's quite a lot of rule breaking happening here. I spent endless hours being taught to systematically remove colour casts, and here I am throwing them in. Well, that's the thing about rules--you know them, you acknowledge them, you give them a nod and then you do what you want.

I am particularly fond of this one. Marita reminds me of Kirsten Dunst and it seems like the kind of pose Kirsten Dunst would do. It makes me think of that Liebovitz shoot (wait...I swear there were horses in that shoot...where are the horses?) or Melancholia (but much less serious and on a much lower budget). So if I think Marita looks like Kirsten and I always thought I resembled Marita, does that make me look like Kirsten too? No, I guess it doesn't quite work that way.

I love the vintage look of these.
Something tells me Oma would really like them.

There is always a lot of prep to do before shoot--technical prep like charging batteries and cleaning lenses, getting everything together. Then there is the prep that the model has to do. But then there was this whole extra step of prepping Khomille, Marita's horse. Brushing her down, trimming her whiskers (or not), cleaning off her feet, toweling her off, putting her "pretty" harness on.

Animals are always a fun challenge to shoot. They're never too sure why we are making them do things, and more often than not, have plans of their own. The best thing though, is when they do something that makes their own personality assert itself--like when a horse sticks its tongue out at you, or gives its owner a little headbutt.

It's the eyes, right M?

Congrats on graduating Marita! I'm very proud of you little cuz!

4:24 PM

You may recall the disposable camera I sent out into the world as a little experiment almost two years ago? I have an update!

People have been asking me, "hey, whatever happened to that camera?" and I've been sadly reporting that I thought it was lost. I was getting steady emails about its whereabouts until December 2011, well over a year ago. It travelled around Ottawa before heading to Kingston and then apparently catching a flight west to Edmonton, where it was last reported (at one point someone had hidden it in a toilet in the woods...).

In the meantime, I've done a few other experiments, including placing a "cache cam" in one of my own geocaches and asking people to take pictures, but not to move it to other caches. That one was a success.

Then last night I got an email out of the blue. Somebody found the travelling camera in a cache where it wasn't supposed to be. We are back in the game! To be honest, I'm both excited and a little terrified to see what's on it, but I can't imagine what condition the film is in at this point.

Stay tuned, and help me cheer on this little camera until its frames are full and it gets home safe!

10:35 PM

This was my last shoot before the end of my class. The weather is definitely improving but still not where I wanted it to be. Taking portfolio in the winter is a challenge because if you are used to or just want to shoot outside, you are limited. I really wanted to do a yoga shoot outside because my brain is just bursting with ideas...but few yogis are interested in getting out there in these temps...

That's okay because we still had an amazing shoot. My next victim (ahem, I mean, subject) was Katie, a beautiful and flexy blond from AYO. So the first thing I find is that her dad is a professional photographer (Actually I checked out his stuff and he's really really good). Damn...now I know I have some tough critics and can't screw this one up.

Then the second thing I learned is that she also has an orange cat named Oliver so its alllll good. Plus she was wearing purple from head to toe so I instantly liked her.

Katie seemed game for anything. I had suggested Katie bring her husband along and maybe get some partner yoga in. Rob, a beginner yogi, was a great sport and most likely got many husband points for this!

If there's a photo that takes the cake, it's this next one one, for me anyway...and it was quite obvious as my cooing noise echoed throughout the room as this happened.

unedited shot. I just love this.

7:29 PM

I was just waiting for a muscly, tattooed dude to walk into my studio. This weekend it happened. Perfect!

Adrian was really great to work with. He'd hold the most ridiculous poses while I fiddled with lights and other nonsense. He did it again if I asked him too because things weren't lined up properly. And he was very inspiring to watch. He went into every pose calmly and with total control, and came out of them the same way.

Matt managed to blow a fuse right before the shoot and we couldn't figure out how to get the power going again for some reason. that's ok, because I didn't need the room lights anyhow. But I'm glad we finally got things up and running because heat was certainly nice in the cold basement...especially for the guy with only shorts on.

Tech note: It's nice having a room flooded with light for high-key shoots, but it's a challenge blocking it all out for shoots on black. Even with the blinds closed it wasn't enough. The only thing I could find was a yellow curtain to block the stray light so the room was this strange yellow, which was going to present some colour problems. With Joe McNally in mind, I threw a 1/4 or 1/2 CTO on the flash and then did a custom WB to fool the camera into thinking that we were looking at white. I think it still registered a touch of yellow, but just enough to make things a nice warm colour, especially since I find my flashes tend a little towards blue.

a little drishti breaking for the camera...

bandhas all fired up in here!

Ashtanga practice is both beautiful and frustrating (at least for me) for the dedication, discipline and the patience required. But, as you can see...it all pays off.

playing with mirrors

It was fun having an Ashtanga yogi in the house. We were literally speaking different languages. I'd say, Firefly? And he'd say Tittibhasana? I never really bothered trying to learn the Sanskrit names until this year, but my vocabulary is still pretty limited...and I can only count to 5 so far...

kapotasana

Later on after Adrian left, Matt noted how quiet he was..."he didn't crash around like you do." LOL!

Adrian teaches Mysore on Wednesdays at 6am and the Led Primary class on Friday at 6:30am at Astanga Yoga Ottawa.

9:22 AM

I'm working on a series about yoga, and this subject matter is near and dear to my heart. Since Tamera is a yoga teacher, I asked her to pose for me, and she graciously accepted. It doesn't hurt to work with a gorgeous model--it's darn near impossible to take a bad shot! I've been thinking about how I can show something that's been shot a lot in unconventional ways, so I did a few experimental ones. Hope you like!