Here’s where I’d like to attempt the blogging equivalent of sneaking into a party full of people 2 hours late in such a stealthy way that everyone thinks you’d been there the whole time. You and I are going to pretend there was not a giant year-sandwich between this post and the last. After all, every one of us experienced the fuckery that was 2020 and 2021 as a collective. I don’t think I need to steal the thunder of the photoshoot we’re here to discuss by delving into the hellscape that was the last year and a half (and the foreseeable future if people don’t fucking get vaccinated). I do make the rules here after all, so you don’t have much choice, reader, but to move on right along with me.
I will just say this, to give some context, and then leave it be. Photography has been hard for me lately. Fucking everything has been hard for me lately. I know I’m not alone in that. Trying to find inspiration, motivation, and sometimes even the desire to create is like searching for a water source in the desert. (She writes as she takes a swig from her HydroFlask at her AirBnb in Joshua Tree like she has any clue what that’s like.) Life since March of 2020 has been so unrecognizable and tumultuous; I don’t need to tell you that, though. You were there. You feel it, too. All this to say I’ve really craved a creative push. An assignment. The quest to reclaim my creative purpose.
I’m here today, on this forum, to bring The Jones back in the form it was intended to be: a photo blog. There haven’t been many opportunities to share my photos and their backstories here in a long time and I just would like to revel in this moment, so allow me!
****reveling****
Welcome back, y’all!
So, a couple months ago, I put out into the universe via the ever mystical “Instagram Story” that I was open for booking film shoots specifically, because film pushes and challenges me in a way digital photography cannot.
My friend Jen reached out and said she’d be down to shoot! To me this was a huge YES. Jen and I used to shoot together almost weekly. If you’ve been here a long time, you’ll recognize her face. There are countless images of her in these entries, and together we’ve always seemed to create magic. We flow famously together, we understand and respect one another’s creativity, and it’s always been the most comfortable and easy “work”.
It had been literal years since we’d shot, so the prospect of this reunion was exciting for many reasons: it would be a clear marker in how far I’d come as a photographer since the days of our collaborations; I knew I’d be shooting with someone who would trust in me and add so much of her own flavor; and above all I knew it would just be downright fun. And after the last year and half, haven’t we all learned that we could all use a little bit more fun? (Unless your idea of fun is going maskless to a grocery store or anywhere that has multiple signs stating that the use of masks is required. Your idea of fun sucks and you should have less fun.)
I wanted to use an entire roll of film on our shoot. That was my only requirement. I didn’t come up with some major storyline or concept. I just told Jen I wanted to play, have some sort of through line, and use the entire roll. I knew our old flow well enough to know we’d figure out the rest as we went.
So she came over, we ended up losing two hours of sunlight to catch up because, like I said, it had been literal years since we’d seen one another, but then we decided we’d be following a girl out on the town on her own. Nothing crazy, nothing too complicated. Just enough to inspire us but not overwhelm us and leave plenty of room to play and oil up our rusty spots. These first photos you see here are our girl coming home from her work day, whatever that may be. I kind of hate that first photo, if I’m being honest. I wish I gave her more direction, more movement, and I wish I took it from a different angle and with different settings. I kind of hate that I’m showing it to the world, but I’m sharing every photo with you because I believe in transparency. In a roll of film, you’re going to probably hate at least one of the photos you took, at least I got it out of the way right at the jump! Think of all the selfies you take before you get the one you want. Now imagine you only have one shot and you have to go with it no matter what. That’s why film is so challenging, but also why it’s so fun.
As Jen and I always seem to do, we found our flow pretty seamlessly. Upon starting, we had both started to visualize who this person was and what her day into night would look like. I didn’t initially have any intention on shooting in my own apartment, but Jen suggested we see this girl transition from day to night look, and I am obsessed with these two photos that came of it. This is why I love shooting with her!
Ahh, here we have Girl contemplating life on her fire escape over a La Croix, or what I like to call my 5PM routine.
Now, Girl gets ready for night on the town. What she’ll get into, she’s not sure, but her gloss will be poppin!
Here’s where I send my formal apologies to Jen for forcing her to face her fear of heights for a photograph. I think it was worth it though! Face your fears, people! (Unless you’re afraid of anti-vaxxers. I would stay far away from their faces.)
By this point, I could feel a bit of panic bubbling up inside because I had imagined us shooting in daylight and catching the sunset towards the end. Well here we are, less than half of the way through the roll and the sun is below the horizon. But instead of letting the panic take hold and cutting the shoot short, we adjusted. I have to attribute a lot of this to Jen. Without her roll with the punches and care free attitude, I may not have been able to remain positive and find new ways to work around the lack of light.
This part of the photoshoot became less about the storyline and more about it just looking kewwwl. This is why we kept the “story” as loose as possible to that it would all fit together even if we veered a bit from the initial point. Here we have Girl alone in an empty rooftop parking lot. We assume she parked all the way up there on purpose to have a few extra moments with herself and the city lights before the elevator brings her into the view she was just taking in.
Here we have some of my favorite photos from the whole night followed by one of the only two flukes in the whole roll. A great reminder that a photographer shouldn’t be judged by their worst photo, but their best. So many things play into a single photo being created, so many opportunities for error. Here we tried to light Jen with these floor lights that were in the sidewalk, and we wanted to make it look as if she was pushing the camera out of her face. Things to remember: because of the severe low light we were working with, I had to have the shutter open for around 1/30th of a second. If you don’t know a lot about photography, that’s not very long. Usually, I don’t like going lower than 1/125th of a second, to give you context. Having the shutter open longer brings more light in, but makes it incredibly hard to have a non-blurry result. Also important, we could not stop cracking up trying to get this photo. We really wanted to attempt it to see what we could achieve, but the positions we were both in to try and achieve this were so ridiculous and we could not stop laughing. So the result is a slightly blurred portrait of Jen about to bust out laughing as she slaps the camera out of my face. Not an award-winning photo by any means, but it makes me laugh.
Here we have a series of photos of Girl around the city. She’s window shopping, she’s sitting on railings, she’s finding her light.
She seems to an observer a bit aimless, but that’s exactly what she wants you to think. She’s flyin by the seat of her pants and she doesn’t need anyone else to have a good time! (This is me working overtime to make a story out of what was really just “ooh this looks cool stand here!”)
Then we headed to this motel that had kind of inspired the whole thing. I shared a photo of it onto my initial Instagram Story asking if anyone would like to do a film shoot here. It’s purpose in this shoot is purely visual, but you could argue that after Girl’s solitary night out, she’s spending the night in an old motel by herself. Why? Who knows, maybe she likes it, maybe she’s into some shady shit. I like the mystery of not answering that question and making you wonder so that’s what we’re going with.
I kind of love that we leave her lying on a couch still in her jeans. The night isn’t necessarily over for our main character, but that’s as much as she’s willing to let you see. Maybe she really is into some shady shit, after all. Maybe she’s waiting for a suitor. Maybe she’s a private investigator who’s been hired to follow someone’s dirty lyin’ cheatin’ partner around. The possibilities are endless! But the roll of film is over, and now so is this blog post.
Thank you for reading and viewing all of the photos from this shoot. It feels good to use this fingers to type on this website again, and I’m looking forward to more photoshoots just like this one to share with y’all. I’d love to hear your feedback. What feelings do these photos evoke, if any? What is your favorite? Please feel free to fill the comment section below with any and all of your thoughts!
Seriously, thanks for being here. I won’t apologize for the time I needed to take for myself, but I’m thankful you’re here after all this time. It means a lot. I hope you’re doing well in this weird and difficult time in our world’s history. We need each other, so let’s be here for one another. That’s what friends (and vaccines) are for!
xo