Giselle Behrens

I’m finally emerging from the darkness and returning to the blog world.

Sorry for my absence, in return I bring you an amazing up-and-coming photographer currently based in NYC:

Giselle Behrens

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I met Giselle a few weekends at the School of Visual Art’s yearly art show.

She is a Business major- turned Art-History Master’s student and is now a talented photographer making her way into the NY arts scene.

Her work offers a glimpse into a natural, yet mysterious inner world.

This work is an exploration of her own genesis, and of the female spirit.

Michael Kenna

My last post was a series of self portraits, and I am becoming more and more interested in the idea of capturing the self.

However, I’ll let you in on a little secret about my work: every photo I post here contains a piece of me. I wouldn’t take, choose and post a picture  for you that didn’t somehow represent a piece of who I am or give you my personal perspective.

In my photos, my perspective may not always be that obvious. But some photographers, such as the photographer I am featuring today, are known for the way they are able to show their own perspective through their work.

Today’s photographer is Michael Kenna.

He is another would-be priest whose passion for the arts drew him first to painting and then to photography.

His photos are haunting and beautiful.

And what I love most about them is that, although they are of very recognizable locations (Venice, New york City, Paris)

you see less of the place and more of his own beautiful idea of the place.

I am so intrigued by this man, by his ability to transform any place into his own surreal world,

That just looking at his photos inspires me to make, even the most photographed of places, my own.

So that each photo I take becomes, in its own way, a self-portait.

Leaving you, not always with the image of the photographer, but always with the photographer’s image.

For more info visit:  http://www.michaelkenna.net/

Finding the Self

The bold phrase: “I’m going to go find myself!”

We’ve all heard this said, maybe even said it ourselves, but what does it mean?

Laura Sabolich Photography

153 days ago

I ran through the Oklahoma City airport desperate to board a plane to Italy.

And then I woke up the next morning in a foreign country with

four roommates,

no heat,

a broken elevator,

and no idea where I could find the nearest grocery store.

I found myself wondering if I had made a horrible mistake.

And now,

6 months later,

I have changed dramatically.

Something happened to me, actually a lot of things happened:

I fell in love with photography,

I met people from all over the world,

I traveled to Spain and Africa,

I became rapped up in a romance or two,

I started speaking another language,

I began dreaming about Paris

and suddenly,

I realized I was not same girl that got on that plane.

Laura Sabolich Photography

I felt unstoppable.

It’s as if at home in Oklahoma I had locked myself in an invisible cage of excuses

as to why I could never have the life I always wanted.

And by leaving everything behind,

breaking my routine,

leaving even those I loved most,

I was  the given the space to hear my own voice.

Laura Sabolich Photography

So, a question I have asked myself over the past few days is:

did I have to travel thousands of miles away from my life in order to find myself?

Was the true me hiding away in Italy all this time?

I asked this question to several study abroad students today and surprisingly

the answer was: yes.

The students voiced that they don’t know that they would have ever had the depth of understanding

about themselves that they do today

had they not been willing to leave everything behind and embrace a completely different life.

Laura Sabolich Photography

Honestly, I don’t think finding yourself is  about the place, though the place can help dramatically.

I think it’s about breaking your routine, changing your perspective

and above all: giving yourself the SPACE that you need to hear your own voice.

For some of us that space may be thousands of miles, for others it may just be a room, or a forest away.

Laura Sabolich Photography

Whatever it is, it’s about getting away from an autopilot existence and being willing to see past our day

to day hassles that can keep us from moving towards a life worth living.

Laura Sabolich Photography

Truth be told, I’m still not sure how to define what it means to “find yourself.”

Taking these self-portraits helped me realize that I did find a part of myself in Italy

but I still have a long way to go in the process of  discovering who I am.

I hope I never stop changing, never stop discovering and surprising myself, because for me this is the

essence of life:

gathering up and joining the pieces of who we are meant to be.

Versilia

I can’t believe it’s been over a week since I’ve posted!

I’ve been working on a travel guide for Versilia (Italy) and have gotten so involved in the project, it seems I’ve completely lost track of my time.

For those of you who haven’t heard about Versilia, it  is a beachy coast where primarily Italians and some Europeans come for holiday

(in other words: very few Americans come here).

I’ve been shooting up a storm the past week and have just a few days home before I return to get the finishing photos.

And though I have yet to really edit and choose the final photos,

I feel I owe you something for your patience.

So here is a small part of my story thus far:

My last day in Viareggio, I saw a group of fisherman coming in from a day on the sea.

Being my overly-curious self I asked to hop on board.

They let me on and showed me a few of the old boat’s secrets.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

More coming soon.

Lina Scheynius ~ Documenting the self

Lina Scheynius is a photographer who takes beautiful,

incredibly intimate and sometimes disturbing photos of her own life.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Her photos make me want to capture the intimate moments, not just of the lives of others, but of my own life as well.

Need some inspiration?

Me too!

And that is why today I’m featuring a very special photographer: Rodney Smith.

His photos are classy yet whimsical.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Interesting facts about Rodney Smith:

#1 He studied under the famous photographer Walker Evans at Yale University.

#2 He eventually returned to Yale to get a masters in divinity.

# 3 He claims only to watch movies made before 1947, which makes me think we’d get along splendidly.

My First Time in the Studio

This was my first time ever working in an actual studio so I was thrilled.

I think I love studio work because it allows you to create your own world within the space of a frame.

I have to admit these photos are a bit of a love letter to Italy, I’m getting sentimental about leaving already and I still have a month left!

But anyways, thanks in advance Italy, meeting you has forever changed my life.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.