Portrait Spotlight: Jessica Barnak
So, as with any good project, you don’t do all your work without any research.
My mom sent me this website a few weeks ago. Jessica Barnak is a portrait photographer right here in Delaware. In fact, she lives just next door to my mother. Unfortunately, I haven’t gotten the chance to meet her yet, but I have been looking at her photos.
The photos she blogs are pretty stunning, whether they were shot inside or outside on location. They bring me a little bit closer to the classicness of portraits and how artsy and personal they can really be. I’m loving all of these location shots and am really feeling pushed to think about how I can use what’s around me to add to the photos I’ll be taking this week and next.
What’s really striking, though, are the expressions on the faces – especially those of the little kids. While working at the portrait studio, I shot a lot of different kids and got a lot of different expressions. After a while, many of the parents favorites became standard expressions that no longer spoke to me. Almost all of the photos I looked at on Jessica’s blog had something different to say to me.
That’s what I’m going to be aiming for.
3 comments to “Portrait Spotlight: Jessica Barnak”
On August 29th, 2010 at 6:16 pm, mommee said...
good for you Ashley… learn from those who with more experience then you..I read a book about a month ago the character was a photographer and she learned who the person was and worked with that person on what “their” life was and got the “essence” of who that person was in her shots which made them better then just shooting shots in a studio… I think that is what Jessica does. Oh and she is younger then me sweetie she has little kids too
On August 29th, 2010 at 8:31 pm, Shlee said...
I’m trying! And that was a big thing I disliked about the company and the job. Sure, it was possible to take some decent photos in 10-20 minutes… but it was a bit more like soul-sucking and money-reaping than making art and taking a photo that said something.
On August 31st, 2010 at 6:25 pm, mommee said...
it was a stepping stone you have many jobs ahead of you and your passion will keep you pursuing your craft o your free time as well