VIDEO: Louis Vuitton "Double Exposure"

Film courtesy of Vogue.com

This is a very brief film about the power of portrait photography. Although I have always been a creative person I only recently took up photography within the last year. As an adolescent I took private piano lessons for eight years and participated in classical piano competitions. I also took four years of fine art instruction in high school and college, where I focused on drawing and painting. Aside from photography my favorite medium is oil painting, which was my first creative love. The luminance and the ability to work with light was something I found very natural with oil paints, and difficult to capture with acrylics (too little light) and watercolor (too much light). The fact that light entirely dominates photography is a large part of why I took to it so quickly. I have always been happiest when I am expressing myself creatively, whether through music, art, or fashion.

I cannot tell you how ironic it is that I am becoming a professional photographer, because as a painter I used to incessantly mock photography as being just “a xerox of reality.” Truly, I used to think it was a creative pursuit for people who weren’t talented enough to paint. It wasn’t until I picked up a camera a year ago and started this blog that I realized how wrong I was, and that photography is a hell of a lot more than pointing a lens at something and clicking a button. I also realized that I can be an arrogant asshole with an obnoxious sense of self righteousness, but that’s besides the point (and something I’m working on). Photography, like painting, takes years to master. And like any creative pursuit, you never stop learning, either.

This short video succinctly communicates the expansive artistic side of photography. Now, with a camera I feel like I am painting with reality instead of dye. I feel much more engaged not only with people, but with the world as a whole. I learned my lesson about judging other creative people, because I’m the happiest I’ve ever been as a photographer. Working outside in the physical world, rather than from completely within myself internally like I did as an abstract painter, has grounded me in a quite profound way.

I’ve still never taken a photography class, but that’s something I hope to change in the fall. If any of you have any suggestions on workshops or photography classes – or tutors – please leave a comment. Word-of-mouth suggestions are always the best.