Jenna Thompson - Writing & Photography: Portraits

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

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

Having lots of fun in the studio lately! I shot Tamera and her 3 1/2-month-old puppy before my vacation. While he is a "puppy," Bane is a great dane/shepherd mix, which means he is already much bigger than a lot of dogs!

I'd like to redo this shot when Bane is fully grown :)

Bane's coat is stunning!

Tamera and Adam are Jays fans so they wanted a shot with some sports paraphernalia. It was tough getting him to pose with this hat because he was more interested in playing with it, but we finally managed to pull off the shot. Needless to say, I had to Photoshop all the slobber off of it!

If you thought shooting newborns was a challenge, try puppies...that are trained...sort of! Despite being a challenge, this shoot was so much FUN! I mean...who doesn't love puppies?

2:06 PM

Just noticed I haven't posted anything yet for 2013. That doesn't mean I'm not shutter active. I am finally completing the final class of the photography program at Algonquin and shooting like a maniac. I've got the studio cleared out again after it became (..ahem) temporary storage. I'm looking forward to really turning it into a dedicated space and sprucing it up and hanging some work on the walls. Picking the ones to go up will be a challenge!

I'll probably need to create a new website for my class. While I like the blog format because it allows you to see what's new, it's not great at showing a full body of work.

One of our assignments is self-portraits. I've done lots of these (hey, when there's nobody else around, who's left to shoot?) but I wanted to go for something different, something odd and quirky...like me. I took the first shot in the tub, and I've been playing lots with superimposing and layering, and put some icy frost from winterlude over the top. I prefer the B&W but the bottom one went over better in class. I find it a little Avatarish (wow...that was a few years ago now!). Do you have a preference?

Next post will be less me and more other stuff...promise :)

4:10 PM

I can't believe I took these shots over a year ago (last Easter!), but I've been mining through lots of old stuff while looking for shots to display in my new studio space (!) and to put on the website I'm building in my latest class (Multimedia). So Mike and Annabelle should be happy to finally see these. They were taken shortly after their engagement, and their wedding is this August...I'm so excited for them!

8:31 PM

Only 2 classes left of my lighting class. I'm taking a minute to post a shot I took last night for one of my last assignments. Sometimes (most of this time) you have this vision and find yourself scratching your head and fiddling with the camera until you get it just right, and sometimes it just doesn't happen. Other times (almost never), everything comes together almost too easily. I had one of those moments last night shooting this pic. I was anticipating having a hard time with it, but we got set up, I fired a test shot, and BAM! That was it. I was like, huh, I guess we're done! I didn't even bother taking any safety shots. Thanks to Matt for posing for innumerable shots this past week and not complaining (too much).

12:06 PM

It's the last few weeks of the course I'm in right now and crunch time so I've been pretty busy shooting, editing and printing. We've been doing lots of portraits in the studio and I've been loving it. It's a challenge, but it's so rewarding to shoot people because they can give you feedback and they really appreciate it when you make them look good! This particular shoot was very demanding. At one point there was 5 of them, including 2 kids, and it was a lot to manage, but I think I got a few good shots!

Thanks Rick for bringing in your beautiful family! It's great to work with you!