Elizabeth's Camera

New Web Location

2008-12-03T02:32:00.000-08:00

The blog has moved! Find the NEW BLOG at http://elizabethscamera.com/.

Sorting Through Old Picutres

2008-11-20T23:31:00.000-08:00

Annie Leibovitz at Benaroya Hall

2008-11-20T07:53:00.000-08:00

Last night I met up with some friends from UW's photo program to hear Annie Leibovitz speak at Benaroya Hall. It was definitely worth ditching a class to see the world's most famous photographer, and we managed to get some pretty awesome seats.

She mostly read from her new book, but she was surprisingly funny when she stopped reading and started interacting with the audience. I wish she'd spoken a bit more about Susan Sontag, but I guess I showed up to the wrong book tour for that.

I took my little G9 and managed to snap a few sharp pictures, even in the low light.

Barack Obama, Our Next President

2008-11-05T10:39:00.000-08:00

In celebration of last night's election, I'm posting some snapshots I took a year ago at an Obama rally in Seattle:

And then some snaps from election night. Our first look at the new first family on TV:

In Seattle, people were chanting, dancing in the street, and swinging from the stoplights:

Wedding at Fort Lewis

2008-10-18T09:40:00.000-07:00

In August I worked as an assistant/second shooter for a local wedding photographer, Eliza Truitt. Here are some of my pictures from that day:

Peapod Cottage Photos

2008-10-13T22:56:00.001-07:00

Weekend Snapshots from San Francisco

2008-10-07T08:31:00.000-07:00

Nighttime Photo Experiments

2008-09-29T00:01:00.000-07:00

This weekend I went to visit my family and some friends on Orcas Island, and I squeezed in some photo experiments while I was there. Fun. :-)

More Sontag Quotes

2008-09-25T11:34:00.000-07:00

Upon finishing Susan Sontag's collection of essays on photography, a few more favorite quotes:

"The posession of a camera can inspire something akin to lust. And like all credible forms of lust, it cannot be satisfied: first, because the possibilities of photography are infinite; and, second, because the project is finally self-devouring."

"The narrowing of free political choice to free economic consumption requires the unlimited production and consumption of images."

"Superseding the issue of whether photography is or is not an art is the fact that photography heralds (and creates) new ambitions for the arts."

"The primitive notion of the efficacy of images presumes that images possess the qualities of real things, but our inclination is to attribute to real things the qualities of an image."

Reading Susan Sontag's "On Photography"

2008-09-07T14:35:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been hearing so many references to Susan Sontag's essays on photography that I picked up a collection to read for myself. Here are some of my favorite quotes so far:

"The camera's ability to transform reality into something beautiful derives from its relative weakness as a means of conveying truth."

"What is surreal is the distance imposed, and bridged, by the photograph: the social distance and the distance in time."

And one of the quotes that seems to be most commonly referenced:

"All photographs are momento mori. To take a photograph is to participate in another person's... mortality, vulnerability, mutability."

I don't always agree with Sontag's seemingly low valuation of photography as a means of building meaning and human connections, but her essays are definitely thought-provoking.

What I'm enjoying most about this book is how Sontag makes complex ideas about the way that photographs work seem so simple. Very often, I'll come across a line and think, 'Yes, that's exactly how we see a picture! Why didn't I notice that before?' Her essays on photography are equally about perception in modern society, so you don't have to be camera-crazy to appreciate this book.

July Wedding

2008-09-01T12:22:00.000-07:00

In July, I worked as a wedding photographer's assistant for the first time with Seattle photographer Eliza Truitt. It was a beautiful day and I was excited to be involved. Here are some pictures from the wedding:

Final Images for Black and White II

2008-08-26T23:13:00.000-07:00

Tonight was the final critique and party for Black and White II at PCNW. It was a good class and I learned a lot about the darkroom. Now that it's over, it really feels like the end of summer.

Trip to Dufur, Oregon

2008-08-26T10:56:00.000-07:00

Matt and I just got back from a road trip to Oregon to attend the wedding of a law school friend. We stopped off at a sushi place on the way, and everyone at the restaurant was fascinated by the rotating rows of food:

Dufur, a little town about two hours from Portland, was gorgeous. The wedding was in a field with sweeping views of the rural landscape. The ceremony was unique and very simple.

On the way back, we stopped at a dam on the Columbia River. This was the second time that I visited a fish ladder and it was fun, though I think I prefer the Ballard Locks.

Playing with Canon's 200 f2.8 Lens

2008-08-17T11:50:00.000-07:00

This weekend I rented Canon's 200mm (or 320 on my 40D's cropped sensor). It was my first experiment with a serious telephoto on my DSLR. Although I really appreciated the wide aperature, I don't see this lens in my future because it isn't as versatile as I'd like. It sure is fun to play with, though.

More in Black and White

2008-08-13T11:52:00.000-07:00

Here is my favorite film photo to come out my summer's work so far:

And a couple more:

Queen Anne Dogs

2008-08-05T23:43:00.001-07:00

This week I began my final project for Black and White 2. I have been photographing dogs, mostly in upper Queen Anne, while they are tied up by the street and waiting for their masters to return.

The Gorge: Steve Miller Band and Joe Cocker

2008-08-03T15:52:00.000-07:00

This weekend Matt and I went to the Gorge for the first time and saw the Steve Miller Band and Joe Cocker. It wasn't the best day of picture taking (they weren't letting cameras in, so all I could do was sneak my little point and shoot), but we had so much fun that I'd like to post about it anyways. These pictures are fun momentos, but they don't do justice to the beauty of the day.

We also stopped in and tried a wine sampling at the vineyard next to the venue:

Mars Bar

2008-08-01T01:42:00.000-07:00

Last night I met up with a photography friend, Andrew, to shoot his friend's concert at Mars Bar. I had some fun and learned a few things about photographing in unpredictable, low light situations. Not so bad for a Thursday night. :)

Back to Film

2008-07-30T13:36:00.000-07:00

I've been going back to film in the past few weeks. It's been fun to be in the darkroom again for my Black and White 2 class at PCNW, but my work for the first couple classes were a bit rushed. This weekend, I finally had the time to print some of my images the way that I wanted to see them.

Ballard Locks

2008-07-26T16:54:00.001-07:00

There were so many kids at the Locks today, and they were all so entranced by the fish. Some pictures from my weekend adventure...

Lola Alvarez Bravo and Intuition

2008-07-23T23:37:00.000-07:00

Lola Alvarez Bravo "had difficulty speaking of her work as a kind of refined artistic expression; it had simply become an extension of herself."

This quote from Elizabeth Ferrer's book on Alvarez Bravo struck me while reading the biography. The instinctual nature of her photography is one of the things I admire most about her. In her portraiture, photojournalism and street photography, her keen observation comes through when she captures a quiet, unposed moment or interesting juxtaposition. Her sensitivity to the world around her, not any technical perfection or over analysis of the scene, is root of her images' power.

It's important to know the technical aspects of your craft. Analysis has its place. However, after spending several years surrounded by a culture of perfectionism and obsessive analysis, I don't think these things are as important as I once did. These days, the intuition in Lola Alvarez Bravo's work is something I aspire to.

UW Photography Exhibit: My first show!

2008-07-19T09:43:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was an exciting evening at the opening of my very first photography exhibit. I snapped the photo above towards the end of the show, after the crowds had cleared out, but most of the evening the hall was so packed that it was hard to weave your way through. Plenty of friends stopped by and my friend, Kate, and my mother even came all the way down from Orcas to see it. I felt so lucky to have so many people come and support me.

The class show was the culmination of the University of Washington's Photography Certificate Program. UW's program was the thing that got me serious about photography, and it was great to look at the walls and see how far everybody had come over the course of the year. Now that the program is over, I really miss seeing all those Certificate folk twice a week.

You can still stop by and see the show. It is up until August 27th in the hall on the way to UW Hospital's Healing Garden, directly to the right of the Information desk. Here's my favorite picture that I exhibited, just to give you a little preview:

Beginning

2008-07-15T00:22:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to create this blog for a while, but am just now getting into 'work' mode after a busy month and a half of distractions. There have been lots of wonderful reasons to procrastinate.

Most recently, my good friend Kathryn visited Seattle and Orcas Island for the first time. We went on the most amazing whale watch and saw two mother and baby pairs playing. They swam all around us and right under our boat! Here are some pictures from Kathryn's trip: