Lovely Celeste

Last week I posted a photograph of Bethany with two of her three children in front of their house in Etna, Maine. Today I am posting a portrait that I took of her daughter, Celeste standing in front of one of the houses at Camp Etna. The sunlight that was filtered through the leaves and a touch of fill flash made for a surreal quality to the image. Celeste was a great model and allowed me to take the time to get the right lighting and expression. Of course, Celeste loves to smile and I did have the opportunity to capture some of her smiling but I believe this is the most provocative of the images I took of her that day. I completely miss the calm and peace and the wonderful and enchanting people I met while I was photographing up in Maine with my assistant/intern Madeleine Budd. Back in the city to cramped living quarters and hustle of trying to make a living as a photographer.

"Celeste Portrait #1", Etna, Maine, Summer 2013. ©Juliana Beasley

This was the first time when I depended completely on my digital camera. I have scoffed my DSLR for years and now, with no money to pay the costs of film development (despite having a refrigerator full of 120 film and Polaroid too!!) and scanning negatives on a higher end scanner, I had to give into the technology and warm up to the world of digital. I am somewhat of an anachronism at this point.. I still believe that film is where it really is at but under my circumstances I had to the use the tools that were the most economic. I wouldn't say I would choose my Rollei over my DSLR if someone handed me a wad of money to work solely on my artwork but I discovered that I am capable of working with this medium which still feels so elusive and intangible. I don't trust it and I think it comes down to the fact that I can't cut the developed negative strips and put them away in a case and store them on my shelf. Yes, I do not trust it.

I also find that I am not as focused when I shoot digital. Given the fact, that when I shoot with my Rollei, I only have 12 frames to shoot very wisely and with great concentration before I have to unhinge my flash bracket, roll the shot film and reload it again with another roll of 120 and then close the back and reattach the flash bracket. I am a different photographer perhaps when I shoot digital because I can take many many more images and so much is just disposable. Maybe this gives me the room to experiment and screw up more which is always a wonderful way to learn how to take stronger images.. sometimes, those mistakes are great teachers and they sometimes are the keepers.

I can't set back the clock to before the digital photo revolution. I often wish I could.. there would be less amateur photographers who believe they are photographers and less would still be more. I am still incapable of the inevitable: analog really is dying and I want to get up on a soap box and educate the average consumer and tell them that analog is still superior in my mind. I'm a slow learner and I catch onto trends often very late and sometimes this has worked to my advantage.

Bethany, Celeste and Baby Guy

I took the following portrait of Bethany with her daughter Celeste and her baby Guy while I was up at Camp Etna in Maine working on a new project. They are sitting in front of their home where they live and which is still in the process of renovation. Bethany and her husband and her three children are the youngest residents at Camp Etna. This was my favorite of many portraits I took of them.

"Bethany, Celeste, and Baby Guy", Etna, Maine, August 2013. ©Juliana Beasley