Q&A: Jon Edwards

Jon Edwards is a fine art photographer who also practices environmental law. His powerful photographs are documentary in style, yet transcend identifiable people and places, making it easier for the viewer to connect with.

Jon's Website
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Winterkill © Jon Edwards

Aimee Keil: In all of your work it seems that you are somewhat familiar and comfortable with the subjects you are photographing and their way of life and I wonder how you became so close with these people and this place? Is it where you grew up? Are they family?

Jon Edwards: I find people I want to photograph mostly through word of mouth. I then set up a time when we can meet and discuss what it is I want to do (photograph them). On the first meeting I rarely photograph, just spend my time getting to know them, and letting them get to know me. If it looks like it's going to work (i.e., we are comfortable with each other, meaning we want to get to know each other) and they seem to be open to my repeated visits to photograph) then I start photographing and getting to know my subjects. We spend much time together, either a week at a time (when I visit remote islands with little transportation out to them), or multiple day visits (people nearer to where I live). I usually make myself helpful (in return for their letting me photograph, but never talked about during my initial visit) and join in doing whatever chore is being performed (stacking or setting lobster traps, repairing floats, hauling propane tanks, harvesting seaweed, picking apples, weeding, planting, etc.).

I do photograph in places that remind me of my childhood. Mostly the time I spent in the Adirondacks during the summers, and later in all seasons when I was a teenager. Most of the people I photograph become family, but I am not related to any of them.

Aimee Keil: Is is awkward meeting your subjects for the first time?

Jon Edwards: People are people. I love these people. They start by tolerating me, and then we get to know and admire each other. I have to say that all the really good photos I've gotten (hence the 2 1/2 portfolios on my website) are a consequence of developing deep friendships with my subjects. Maybe a tad awkward in the beginning, but if it's right, then it soon blossoms ... like a any relationship! If it is awkward, then it won't work, and I have abandoned several subjects, shortly after starting them, because of that!

Coming Ashore © Jon Edwards

Aimee Keil: When reading your artist statement, I noticed that you said the individuals you photograph are living on islands, physically and metaphorically, what do you mean by this?

Jon Edwards: In my two main bodies of work, "A Way of Being" and "A Life," the people/places in the photographs are either on islands where they live or work. However, the subject of "A Life" lives and works on islands in the summer, but actually lives the rest of the year inland, and the subject of the series "Piece of the Maine" lives on the coast, but not an island. They all live in islands though. While they are aware of modern society, they only partake in part of it. For the most part they, sometimes out of necessity, do not participate in our "consumerism." They live to be part of nature, make their living form the natural resources of the State of Maine, and don't care to live in "nice" houses and drive new cars. They are more spiritual, and look to family, friends and nature to sustain themselves. They are islands amidst the larger society we live in.




















Looking Back © Jon Edwards

Aimee Keil: Your series "A Life", seems to be a comment about growing old alone, revealing somewhat intimate and private glimpses into an old gentleman's life and home. What was is like for you photographing this, was it ever difficult at times?

Jon Edwards: The subject of "A life", John Ryan, is a now, 81 year-old jack of all trades. In his working life he has fished, farmed, logged, tended apple orchards and harvested seaweed, among other things. This series is, indeed, about growing older. John can no longer make his living fishing, or harvesting seaweed. He cannot afford to fish (which requires a seaworthy boat, nets/traps, etc.), and no one will buyer his hand harvested seaweed anymore (they will only buy seaweed harvested by machine, which chops it up like spinach!). So, he relies on tending an apple orchard (winter pruning and fall apple picking) and providing for himself, i.e., collecting firewood to stay warm (from the woods and dump), tending a large organic garden, tending to chickens and getting by on social "in-security."

Last winter, for reasons too complicated to write about now, John lost his home and was waiting for his brothers to install a used trailer for hi m to live i. Snow ad freezing weather intervened, and he lived in an unheated cabin with no electricity or water. It was very hard for him, and for me to watch. I did what I could, and found him a wood stove (the one in the cabin didn't really work), so at least he was warm. He insisted on doing farm chores, caring for animals and chickens, to carry his own weight. He was sick for much of the winter, but hid it as best he could. He never gave up, and looked forward to spring!

My difficulty is in knowing that life is so unfair, and that I was going home to a warm house. But, I did what I could for John (while photographing him), bring left over meals, spending time with him and assisting in whatever I could. It was never hard to be with him though. I continue to learn from all the people I photograph. Never give up, and make things better, and do it yourself, with the help of your family and friends if need be.

Aimee Keil: Is the old gentleman in this series someone who is close to you? If not how did you get him to let you in to his personal life?

Jon Edwards: I met John @ 10 years ago, started photographing @ 7 years ago, and got my seaweed license @ 5 years ago.. Since then I've been "picking weed" with him (until this summer when he could no longer sell his "weed"), stacking cut apple tree limbs, hauling wood from the woods or dump, etc., and taking pictures on the side. We are now best of friends, and as John said to me earlier this fall, "I'm not sure how you came to be in my family, but I'm glad you did." Me too! He is my second father. It all came from spending time, and taking pictures.

Pondering Spring © Jon Edwards

Aimee Keil: How did John respond to you when you first introduced your idea to him? When you first started photographing him did he hold back, or has he revealed more to you as he has built up trust for you?

Jon Edwards: John was very skeptical when I first told him I'd like to photograph him. Didn't much cotton to idea, as they say. However, the first time I went to photograph him was in the winter, and he was pruning apple trees at a friend's farm. It was a VERY sunny, bright winter day, with snow on the ground. So, how many pictures can you take of a man in a tree, who is just tolerating you, when the lighting conditions are so harsh that you're lucky if you get anything worth a darn!?? (Not many!!) So, with nothing else to do, I started collecting the cut limbs and stacking them between the rows of apple trees, as I noticed was customary. Much later John told me he was thinking, "who IS this guy? Is he workin

g for Jill (the owner of the farm), or is he taking pictures?" Once he figured out I was there to photograph, and as a consequence (only) was assisting him, he said he thought, "OK, you can photograph. I always liked looking at and taking good pictures myself." I didn't really plan any of it, it just grew out of the situation. (I had done the same sort of thing with the farm's owner the year before, planting, weeding and picking -- camera always ready).

Mug-Up © Jon Edwards

Aimee Keil: How long did it take you to complete your series "A Life", and what is it like photographing the same person for an extended period of time?

Jon Edwards: "A Life" won't really be completed until I can no longer photograph John, either because he is gone or I am. As I mentioned, it's been almost 7 years now, and still counting. I would have to find another subject if I felt that I was no longer getting "new" images from my relationship with John. Fortunately, that has not happened. His life has been changing rapidly of late, and I'm there to assist him as best I can ... and record it. As my friendship with John deepens, so do my images (I hope!).

Aimee Keil: Your photographs seem to have a spontaneous or candid feel to them, where any of them posed?

Jon Edwards: I do not ask my subjects to pose. At most, I ask if they can "hold still" for a moment. Their portraits are of them revealing what they want to to me and the camera.

Eggs © Jon Edwards

Aimee Keil: I noticed that most of your photographs are square format, is there a reason you like this better compositionally over a rectangle?

Jon Edwards: I use a medium format camera, which has a square 2 1/4 x 2 1/4" negative. I also started using a panoramic camera in the last 2 years, to try and better record the environments where my subjects live/work. I wanted a larger negative, and am not versed in large format, nor do I think it would work for me because, as you noted, many of my images are, indeed, spontaneous.

Aimee Keil: Your photographs seem more powerful because of the use of black and white, is this why you choose to shoot black and white, and do you ever shoot in color?

Jon Edwards: Yes, I too think that my work is better suited to the traditional -- black and white. I do not shoot in color, both for this reason and because I develop my own film and make my own prints in the darkroom. I could not have this kind of control over a color process.

Hanging Doll © Jon Edwards

Aimee Keil: Have you always been interested in this kind of documentary type of work, or what made you become interested in it and how did you choose these types of subjects in remote areas?

Jon Edwards: As an undergraduate, I studied photography. I was interested in documentary at that time too, but it centered around people like Lee Friedlander, Gary Wino-grand and Diane Arbus. I also loved Walker Evans, especially Let Us Now Praise Famous Men (having found a copy of the book in a drug store in upstate New York when I was in High School), but at that time I thought his work too "old-fashioned." I also loved the work of Duane Michals, Les Krims and any other photographer doing bizarre work! I then went to law school, had a family and practiced law for @ 25 years. Over the past seven years I've come back to Evans, Lange, all the FSA photographers, Atget, Paul Strand, August Sander (and even Alfred Stieglitz!). And I greatly admire the modern work of Keith Carter (especially his early works) and Debbie Flemming Caffery. To name a few.

Whether my interest in documentary came from loving these images, or my love for the life styles of those I photograph, I have to think ... I guess my attraction to the life styles and personalities of the people I photograph AND the images of the above photographers, led me to the work I now produce. I started with individuals living inland, migrated to the coast and then met the Quinns (the subjects of "A Way Of Being"). Once on the islands, with the Quinns and John Ryan, I've never left. We found each other.

Aimee Keil: And do you have any tips for a young photographer interested in this type of work, who is just starting out?

Jon Edwards: YES ... find someone/something that resonates with you and go for it. You've got to be there to find the right moment, lighting, etc. It takes time. A friend tells the story of going to an Indian Reservation and being introduced to the tribe's medicine man by a mutual friend. The mutual friend left, and the photographer and Med. Man sat ... and sat ... and sat ... Not one word was spoken. The photographer decided, OK, if this is what he wants, I'll just wait and see what happens. By the end of the DAY, the Medicine Man said, "come back whenever you would like to photograph, and we can talk." An amazing relationship and portfolio came out of it! So, build the relationship, and the photographs will follow; but find the right fit and have confidence in your photographic abilities first.

Q&A: Tara Donne

Cookie Magazine © Tara Donne

Tara Donne photographs what she loves: food, travel, friends. The greenmarket, Caribbean heat, lush landscapes and the still moments one catches while resting. Raised in the country but currently a city dweller, she's inspired by both: the pace, the trees, the space of the rural; the interaction, the neighborhoods, the streets of the urban.

Read more at her website.

Barbara Vonderharr: I really appreciate the food images that would, and have appeared in things like Martha Stewart, but I’m really drawn to the food still life images that are mid-meal or after the meal that include more objects. What draws you to photograph also in this manner?

Tara Donne: I think I got into making images like this because of two things. One is my inclination to capture moments (one of the earliest kinds of photography I was drawn to was street photography and people like Henri Cartier-Bresson and Helen Levitt). Sometimes these images you're mentioning are indeed spontaneous and sometimes they're a little more set-up to evoke the kind of feeling you describe; to give the sense of reality or a moment in time. Not entirely different than Cartier-Bresson waiting for "decisive moments" to happen. Second is just that I love food and eating and the sense of family or community that can happen around a table or in a kitchen. Seeing that process of making or eating and implied enjoyment, even without people, is really satisfying.

Barbara Vonderharr: What do you prefer to shoot and why do you think this is?

Tara Donne: I prefer to shoot food and travel first although I enjoy still life and lifestyle very much too. Again, I think its because I love certain roles food plays in culture and history, and also because I like to talk about it on set and learn things for my own culinary endeavors from food stylists and chefs. Travel: for obvious reasons of physically traveling to new places and all that means (learning languages, culture, customs, having experiences with other people) but also to get out of insular (yes, extremely diverse but very predictable and self-centered in many ways) New York. Something about all these tall buildings can make me forget there's a world outside. Travel also keeps my eye sharp -- constantly being in new environments that I often need to coax a story out of and continually frame in an interesting way is good exercise.

Mechanic shop detail in Buenos Aires, Argentina © Tara Donne

Barbara Vonderharr: A lot of your photographs involve travel and I was curious as to if you get sent out on shoots, receive grants, etc.?

Tara Donne: I am sent by clients for specific assignments and always take a couple/few trips on my own each year.

Barbara Vonderharr: Continuing on this notion of travel, do you feel that some of your work ends up being somewhat autobiographical and more personal to you?

Tara Donne: Yes. It’s impossible to avoid that. And I think that viewpoint is why I'm the one being assigned that particular story; editors see what I'm drawn to and excited about and they think of me for similar things. I always complete my shot list as assigned by the client but I think its quite obvious when they receive the film or files what parts of the job I was most excited about and related to more strongly. There will always be lots of variations and more images of those things by default.

BBQ in Boston, MA for Cookie Magazine © Tara Donne

Barbara Vonderharr: Do you feel the experience of travel has greatly enhanced or strengthen your photographic abilities and eye?

Tara Donne: Definitely. Like I said above, the constant travel to new environments where I am expected to quickly grasp a sense of place/the people and then communicate it though a series of images and tell a story has made me quick to problem solve and find interesting compositions or perspectives on sometimes mundane or less-than-beautiful things or places. My job is to make you want to go there even if I feel like I'd never return to that hotel room or restaurant or city in my life! Over the last handful of years my instincts have grown and my eye has gotten much quicker in assessing a situation, editing out the garbage, and coming up with an interesting composition that works with the other images I've taken for that trip or that I anticipate taking based on my shot list.

© Tara Donne

Barbara Vonderharr: What drives you in your work and passion?

Tara Donne: The fact that I'm really lucky to do different things every day, work for myself, work with other great creative people on set, travel and eat delicious food, and meet people I never would have otherwise! I also have been taking pictures since forever, so it makes me happy that there was this seed somewhere in my old Polaroid (that I used to photograph things in my room at about four or five years old) that has taken root and allows me to have such a creative career. It’s reinforcing that it’s really been there since the beginning.

Barbara Vonderharr: What made you fall in love with photography in the first place?

Tara Donne: I think it was just that I liked to look at things and at light, and at how light falls on things (and faces) and contemplate them. I drew a lot in high school and early in college, from life, in a relatively formal but loose manner...but that all just took too long. I was always way more of an immediacy fan and since I was also into documenting moments in time, photography just made more sense.

Q&A: Miranda Lehman

© Miranda Lehman

Miranda is a wonderfully inspiring photographer who currently resides in Portland, Oregon.

For further viewing of her inspiring photographs please look here.

Autumn Clark: Where do you find your inspiration?

Miranda Lehman:

When I was just starting out, everything was an inspiration, it was just so fun to look through a camera and photograph anything. Now that I have been doing it awhile, I feel pictures are inspired by very specific desires: namely, a particular feeling I look for when I photograph. I can't describe it entirely, but I know it when I see it, and it makes me feel like I am being connected with some beautiful, more pure or wild part of myself. This is especially true for the project I am currently working on. Also, I am a lot more inspired by movies than by the work of other photographers... but of course my tumblr is endless inspiration. I've saved hundreds of pictures to my desktop. I think overall it is much more interesting than websites like flickr.

© Miranda Lehman

Autumn Clark: You also tend to avoid photographing people's faces in your photos, how come?

Miranda Lehman:

People are just so preoccupied with beauty and creating celebrities out of artists and the subjects of photographs, especially images of women, that I find it more interesting to withhold that information. At least that's how I've felt for the past few years. Recently I feel much more open to photographing people's faces. I just think it's dangerous -- I might take images of other, but I am never going to photograph myself.

© Miranda Lehman

Autumn Clark: What photographs do you tend to look at?

Miranda Lehman:

I go back to Uta Barth, Bill Henson, and Todd Hido over and over. I love Vija Celmins the most, though she is not a photographer. Overall, I don't look at other photographers work too much. The internet provides so much contemporary photography that I am usually burnt out on "looking".

Autumn Clark: Does your personal life inspire your work?

Miranda Lehman:

Yeah, I can't help it, but it does. It's absurd to think a photographer can divorce their pictures from their own life. Sometimes you can't see it, but it's there. That being said, I don't think my pictures are especially diaristic. Some people photograph their daily life... and I do too... a little bit. More and more I like to mix really staged scenes with very personal photos taken in my daily life. It's been invigorating putting all the ways I work into one project.

Autumn Clark: Do you prefer to work traditionally or digitally?

Miranda Lehman:

I love film totally and completely. I like how high the output is (you can make such big prints with film), but I also like how secret it is. It's like the fantasy of the movie Blowup is still there -- that is, that something hidden and mysterious can be recorded and found later. I think digital is great too, I just haven't found the right way to integrate it into my own practice... yet. But, I love when digital photos becomes degraded and noisy, it has a beauty of it's own.

© Miranda Lehman

Autumn Clark: What advice would you give to someone working towards their BFA in photography?

Miranda Lehman:

Oh man, I wish someone told me to be prepared for an artistic slump after graduating and that it's totally natural and nothing to feel bad about! Also, explain things in your natural voice. It took me four years of art school to finally talk about my artwork in a non bullshitty way. I think what's important is to find an art practice that works for you and will keep you motivated outside of school... much more important than getting a fine grade. And make the work you want to make, not what you think you "should".

Friend of The Class: Edwards

Peter Frank Edwards is a photographer based in Charleston, South Carolina. He makes gorgeous food, lifestyle, travel, fashion and portrait work. You can read a short interview I did with Frank here, view his website here and mouth-watering blog here.

He also will be one of our competition judges. Thanks, Frank!

[I've asked some photographer friends to send the class examples of their promotional materials, so we can discuss how photographers are promoting themselves. Throughout the semester, I'll be posting examples of more promo materials - so stay tuned. - Kevin]

Portfolios!

In the last few weeks of class, one of the topics we'll be addressing is portfolios. The fine folks at PZ Direct, direct sellers of Pina Zangaro portfolios, have graciously offered to donate 4 portfolios to our class. This raises the stakes of the original competition for the liveBooks website. The student with the highest votes from our judges will still win the one-year, .edu version website from liveBooks - but now the next four highest vote-getters will each receive a free portfolio.

Thanks, PZ Direct!

Q&A: Tealia Ellis Ritter

Floating © Tealia Ellis Ritter

Tealia Ellis Ritter is a contemporary photographer from Illinois.

For further information visit her website.

Kathryn Kmet: I noticed you use Artist Statements quite often in your work, How important/useful is it for you to use artist statements in your separate works?

Tealia Ellis Ritter: Writing artist statements is something that most artists do as a way of introducing the work to viewers. I actually don't enjoy writing them but they are useful because they force you to organize your thoughts and clarify broadly what you're doing. At the same time that I don't enjoy writing them, I really like reading other artist's writings on their work. It's the best way, aside from talking directly to the artist, to understand the artist's motivation.

Kathryn Kmet: How do you come across your subjects, what about them individually grasps your attention?

Tealia Ellis Ritter: In general I meet my subjects by chance on the street or grocery shopping or doing some everyday activity etc. I approach them, explain what I'm doing, exchange information and ask if they would be willing to be photographed, from there we usually e-mail back and forth and talk for awhile before the actual photo shoot. As far as what attracts me to each subject, that is a difficult thing to explain. I guess it's a bit like any attraction, it's part magic. In general there is something about each person that I feel I relate to, I think I recognize the desire for something beyond the present.

Kathryn Kmet: What has most inspires you in your photography?

Tealia Ellis Ritter: I would say that I am most inspired by whatever my current surroundings are. That may sound simplistic but in general my work is a reaction to the world around me and the issues that arise from my life.



My dream it to sleep with no nightmares © Tealia Ellis Ritter

Kathryn Kmet: What really attracted you to the medium of photography?

Tealia Ellis Ritter: My father was an avid photographer and he really introduced me to the medium. My mom is also an artist and she exposed me to art at a very early age. So art and photography have always been a part of my life. What I love about photography is the way that it is able, unlike any other art form, to walk the fine line between truth and fiction. Each image is this complex representation of the artist and the subject and what they have created together. People's willingness to believe in the truth of photographs provides photographers with an interesting ability to effect/manipulate the viewer.

Kathryn Kmet: How did going through school influence the way you photograph now? How long did it take you to realize your style?

Tealia Ellis Ritter:School was great for me. Many people believe that art is a totally intuitive thing that just spontaneously emerges from the artist and although I often work intuitively, having an understanding of art history and being able to talk and have critiques with other artists is invaluable. I continue to seek critiques from other artists and I am constantly looking at other artists' work...just like in any field, knowledge is always helpful.

Margot talks with Death © Tealia Ellis Ritter

Kathryn Kmet: I was very interested to see that you have a minor in printmaking from the University of Iowa. I am also a printmaking minor, I am interested to know if your have ever used the medium in your photographic work?

Tealia Ellis Ritter: I think that printmaking heavily influenced the body of work titled Specimens. Printmaking made me very aware of texture and manipulation/control of value which I think is important in that body of work. I also used photographs in my lithography which was an interesting way for me to see my images. It gave me a different appreciation for printing with light vs. printing with ink.

Figure, found alongside the highway © Tealia Ellis Ritter

Kathryn Kmet: As a photographer who had studied in the midwest, how did you get started in the art world? Was it a challenge for your or was it easier then you imagined?

Tealia Ellis Ritter: As far as getting started in the art world, I think that is still a work in progress. What I have found is that having a community of artists with whom you can share information and network is very important. Also, putting in the time to work and send out slides is key.

Friend of The Class: Hamon

Deborah Hamon is a San Francisco-based artist who both paints and makes photographs. The promo cards seen here feature work that combines both - painted portraits set within a photographic background. See more of Hamon's work on her website and blog.

Thanks, Deborah!

[I've asked some photographer friends to send the class examples of their promotional materials, so we can discuss how photographers are promoting themselves. Throughout the semester, I'll be posting examples of more promo materials - so stay tuned. - Kevin]

Q&A: Aline Smithson

Favorite Condiment © Aline Smithson


I had the tremendous pleasure of interviewing photographer Aline Smithson. Smithson resides on the "Left Coast" of the United States. She is productive both in the practice and the study of photography, as is evident by viewing her website and very active photo blog Lenscratch. Her variety in subject matter is telling of her hyper curiosity for life. Her enthusiastic exploration of photography and photographers is a true inspiration for those interested in the medium.


Aryn Kresol: The extent of work on your website is quite impressive. You seem to be very purposeful about the ideas you pursue. Does most of your work initially come from preconceived ideas or do you find yourself producing work without a predetermined purpose and find one along the way?

Aline Smithson: I work both ways, usually starting from an idea and then I shoot a couple of images and if it feels right, I continue. Sometimes I'll spontaneously produce an image, find resonance in what I've done, and continue the exploration. It's all pretty organic, but I do think it helps to have an intention...as a project evolves, there is a voice in my head that constantly discusses what I am doing and that helps me flush out my intention.


The Secret Language, from In Case of Rain © Aline Smithson

Aryn Kresol: As the daughter of a librarian and the patron of a library currently in economic crisis, I have a connection with your In Case of Rain series. Do you find connections with other photographer's work and can you give an example of such a connection?

Aline Smithson: Honestly, I feel more connected to painters, especially James McNeil Whistler - not just for his portraits, but for his gestural landscapes and influences from Japanese imagery. I have a wall of inspirational images over my desk and many are postcards of paintings, postcards of hand painted Japanese photographs, or vernacular images by unknown photographers.
Lately I have been drawn to personal work dealing with family--Phil Todelano's work, Days with My Father, Doug DuBois, Tierney Gearon, Elizabeth Fleming, Jack Radcliffe. I recently wrote essays on this subject for Fraction Magazine and Too Much Chocolate.

Aryn Kresol: In the same vein, are there any photographers who have had a profound impact on your photographic life?

Aline Smithson: In my Fashion Editor life, definitely Mario Testino. He was a complete pleasure to work with and had such enthusiasm about his work and it taught me a lot about working with people. That kind of personality is infectious and makes everyone excited to create a singular vision as a team. Patrick Demarchelier and Arthur Elgort were pretty great to work with too--and though I didn't work with them, Guy Bourdin, Penn, and Avedon were visual influences.
I think when I was beginning my own photography career, I was most influenced by Matt Mahurin and Keith Carter (I only shot in black and white for many years). Matt Mahurin's work gave me permission to create and print images that were dark--I've always been drawn to ominous and quirky images, and his really resonated with me. For years, I had Matt's photographs of Marilyn Manson (from a story in Rolling Stone) over my desk, sort of as an inspiration for creating work that was "off". Keith Carter resonated with me because he approached his subjects with such compassion and dignity. My current favorites are Jan von Holleben who celebrates life and children with a disregard of traditional approaches and Oliver J. Laude for his quirky and humorous approach to his work.

Aryn Kresol: Do you consider yourself an artist or a photographer? Or both? What, for you, is the distinction between the two?

Aline Smithson: My eduction was as an artist, though when I reflect on my influences in college, they were definitely artist's that used photography. John Baldessari, Ed Ruscha, and William Wegman were artist/photographers that I admired. When I was in college, no one considered being just a photographer. As an artist, you had permission to use all mediums--lithography combining photography, painting combining photography, or just straight photography--but it was art based. At this point, I consider myself both, though if someone asks what I do for a living, I just say I'm a photographer.


People I Don't Know #5 © Aline Smithson

Aryn Kresol: The People I Don't Know series most definitely speaks of your personal style; within it the viewer can see reoccurring compositions and lighting attractions. Is this a tendency that you are conscious of when you are photographing or is it intuitive?

Aline Smithson: That was an early series and I discovered the importance of light as an element that evoked more complex images. Since I didn't have any formal photography education, or a community to exchange ideas with, there was much on-the-spot learning. Working through that series did, indeed, create a consciousness about how I wanted to present the images--though very little was planned in advance. I just looked for ways to connect the images when I was in the moment.


Life, from In Case of Rain © Aline Smithson

Aryn Kresol: You expressed interest in photographs that accompany articles, books, and such. Are you interested in the text? Or do you solely read the photographs?

Aline Smithson: Honestly, I always look at the photographs first, but I will read the story or the essay if it is of interest. If you are going to create images to accompany text, you should be reading the text! I am interested in image that begin to tell a story, but don't give away the ending, that are intriguing enough to make you want to read the text. I have to admit, I've purchased books because of the cover image.

Aryn Kresol: Does more of your work come from external influences or from internal curiosities?

Aline Smithson: Both, though probably more from external influences. I'm a visual learner and person. My husband will often have to remind me to stop looking at strangers for too long--I am so fascinated with life and people. I'm always taking in the world and thinking about what I'm looking at. I often take those external influences and make them internal curiosities.


Moving Through Life © Aline Smithson

Aryn Kresol: Do you still shoot with film? Mainly or Solely? If you do work digitally, do you feel a difference between the works you produce traditionally to that which you produce digitally?

Aline Smithson: I only shoot with film. And my cameras are pretty old--I use a Rolleiflex from the 1950s and a Hasselblad that could be from the 1980s. It just feels right. I have noticed that my students who shoot digital don't take the time or make an effort to slow down and really think about what they are producing...and the other thing I've noticed, is that many digital photographers have never made prints--I find that unbelievable. The darkroom, and the artistry behind printing, is an important part to committing to the image and elevating it to another level. I don't shoot as much random imagery these days, due to the cost of developing film, and that's where digital images would help. I do own a digital camera and have never used it.


Fur © Aline Smithson

Aryn Kresol: As a photographer and a mother, your children are at times present in your work. Do your children enjoy being photographed, or is it something that they tolerate?

Aline Smithson: My daughter has always been a willing partner--though I did a series of her wearing an enormous gold Thai hat in various locations, and had to pay her $1 per shoot! My son begrudgingly allows me to photograph him, but i know he's happy with the images--especially since he made the cover of a magazine. I am grateful to have chronicled their lives through my art.


My immense thanks to Aline for her generous answers!