Painting with Film

I like to consider my self a photo purist gone digital, out of necessity that is.

While living in NYC a few years back I was blessed to inherit my beloved 1950's-ish Rolleiflex medium format, TLR (Twin Lens Reflex) camera.

It changed my eye forever.

I've always tried to shoot medium and large format films when ever possible. (Time is slim these days sadly) There's not a digital or 35mm camera that can touch the painterly quality and ethereal details that these films capture, whatever camera you instal it into.

Here's my owed to film featuring my favorite subject, Safina Stella.

©Vicky Scesa 2011, All Rights Reserved

I posed her in our backyard in the early morning with the sun hitting her back and a gold reflector to her left at 45 deg's.

What I saw through the TIMELESS waist-level viewfinder was my own photographic version of a Degas. Pastels are my favorite medium next to film, and this camera grants me that same texture, in my mind anyway.

The Rollei's Depth of Field is extremely shallow and the focal range doesn't allow for close ups so it's extremely tricky to capture a moving subject, especially a baby, while maintaining selective focus.

There's 11 more exposures like this but it's intense to get a good film scan as my local lab did a less than perfect job of processing the film and were so kind to leave chemical marks and dust on the film which means enduring the dreadful process of PHOTOSHOPPING my film, NIGHTMARE, TRAGEDY!!!

One day, she'll kill me for posting this online, if there still is an "online".

Happy Shooting, Vicky

Photo Credit: wikimedia.org

A note on "Going Green" and Wind Power

I'm compelled to blog about my excitement from an NPR interview I listened in on this week.

Wind farms are coming to East Coast, USA, FINALLY! "Cape Wind, America's First Offshore Windfarm on Nantucket Sound" has just won approval for construction of a 130 turbine wind farm.
When I heard this I paid a mental revisit to my trip to Germany, in all it's eco friendliness. I was deeply inspired by the majestic wind farms throughout the North and happy to pay .5 Euro for a shopping bag, as locals are expected to bring their own.
Since that trip in 2008, it is apparent that progress has been made here in my homeland. As I re-read my photo essay "keepin it GREEN" I only feel a little bit of guilt for some of my anti-patriot statements. Cause sometimes it takes a little fuel to get things moving, but we're better off using wind.

Read my essay:
http://vickyscesa.com/keepin%20in%20GREEN_lres.pdf

Tips to Going Green:

-Start a trash compost

-Grow a garden

and of course RECYCLE

New Baby, New Venture

This blog thing has become a vacancy that I must now attend to. In the time since my last post (in a past life) things have changed drastically to say the least.

I returned to the States and thus, HAD A BABY! We call her Safina Stella and what a difference she has made on me and my point of view. 

Becoming a Mom has taken more of a centerstage then I ever imagined. Once, I thought I would just work and if I had kids great if not I had my career. Until one day I woke up and that thought was flipped upside down, in reverse to be exact, and I realized that I wanted my job to be BEING a Mom.

But even with an adorable, persistently crying, bundle of joy, other duties still call. The world only stopping for a second to embrace my new life and then a voice...LET'S GET ON WITH IT!

So how can I be the Mother and the Working Girl (not the Pretty Woman kind) I've dreamed of being?

I present to you Mamatography!

In expectation of Safi, I did some analyzing of my short, but prosperously lived career as a designer, photographer and teacher. Out of my many lessons learned I found that my most rewarding gig has been GIVING lessons to others on my craft.

I'm not one for politics and the photo industry on a mainstream level is just that, a POLITICAL PAIN IN THE ASS!

That said, I'm excited to take silly pictures of my baby girl and share the concepts with other like minded MAMA's.

I'm offering lessons to Anyone, Anywhere via Skype and in person in South Florida.

click here and "Like" the Mamatography Facebook page

Would love to hear from you!

Best, Vicky

©2011 Vicky Scesa, Mamatography™