Trudie, Layers, 2013
Each layer shows different aspects of Trudie, adding to the story of how I experienced her that day, on Nantucket, the summer of 2012. I’ve combined the layers of texture, tone and rhythm to expand the visual complexity and meaning of the final image.
I invite the viewer to step back and reflect on how these layers relate to each other.
Take charge, don’t let the camera dictate when you need artificial light. The flash is not meant as “standard operating procedure”. It’s a last resort when you “must” get the shot at your girl friend’s birthday bash.
Greenwich, Connecticut
If you don’t turn it off, the flash pops up at the least provocation to rob you of the subtle, intimate moment that motivated you to pick up your camera in the first place. It blasts the scene and makes it look ordinary.
So turn the darn thing off and set yourself free. Most amateur photographers have their ISO set so low (at ISO 100) that they need a lot of light to take a picture. In low light the flash kicks in to light the scene but ruins the ambiance.
Set your ISO to 1600 for starters and enjoy greater flexibility about where and when you can shoot. Your camera will automatically adjust the aperture and shutter speed for the available light. Even more importantly you’ll create images that are more about why you picked up the camera in the first place. Show the love, not the flash.
Greenwich, Connecticut
Breakfast, Trudie
My muse in a quiet moment eating her breakfast.
She’s being natural, allowing me to explore her, allowing for a window into what is happening. She is the perfect muse, letting go of any goal beyond just being herself so I can capture the moment. It’s the mundane imbued with a story, leaving room for the viewer to fill in the details. She is herself.
Trudie wasn’t sold on the image when I selected it, but it interested me because it shows a vulnerability, a beauty that comes from dropping any effort to make it “artful”.
(Later Trudie told me she thought to herself as I started to photograph, “oh, please don’t shoot this Ben, I know it’s going to show up on some gallery wall”. Actually now it’s a prize winner at the Rowayton Arts Center and hanging in their Gallery at 145 Rowayton Avenue, Rowayton, CT)
Trudie, Outdoor Shower, Nantucket
It’s a perfect Nantucket day.
I’m in the outdoor shower and Trudie comes over to keep me company, setting up her towel to get some sun. As I look out, I see her, relaxed, natural. I’m soaking wet but I have to quickly get my camera before the moment is gone. She’s being spontaneous, I don’t ask her to pose. My job is to see the moment, interpret it so the formal qualities work as an image. She’s in repose but that energy is there.
As I explore her with my camera, she moves and remakes the view. Her aesthetic is visible even in the way she arranges herself on the deck. This intimacy of image is where we unite. This is the connection we have that goes beyond our relationship as husband and wife. We share a visual idea of the world and Trudie’s place in it.
Trudie is in motion, even at rest. She inhabits her own skin with something more than common physicality. Transforming the space surrounding her with this presence, which is beyond an addition but some further alchemy. I see this energy and work to show it in my images. I’m her biggest fan, recording her “Moments of Grace”.
My muse is the embodiment of the feminine, sensual and uninhibited. She moves unlike anyone else. She creates a context. The world is her stage.
For me, to photograph Trudie is to receive the gifts of the muse.
Trudie, Coatue, Nantucket
Trudie, Bedroom Window, Nantucket
Trudie, Reading, Nantucket
When I shoot my priority is to stop the action. For me a shoot is not a sitting, it’s a session where everyone is moving. If they’re not then I get them to move, that’s when good stuff happens.
Nantucket, Massachusetts
I adjust the settings on my camera to shutter priority so I can photograph people in motion without getting a blurry image. The shutter speed ranges from 1/200 sec. to 1/4000 sec. depending on whether my subjects are sitting on a couch or jumping off a wall. I let the camera automatically adjust the aperture to obtain the correct exposure for the available light.
Shutter priority allows me to be spontaneous and go in the flow with my subjects without having to continually check the camera settings.
Darien, Connecticut
I want to make the camera itself disappear so that I’m performing effortlessly and my subjects are acting naturally, unselfconscioulsy, expressing their spirit and love for one another. The times when this happens I call Moments of Grace®.
In recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness month our October blog highlights forty-two images from two moving and inspiring photography exhibits created in 2006 and 2008. The exhibits feature portraits of breast cancer survivors from the communities of Darien and Greenwich, Connecticut. Ben donated his time to creating a poster title and design, and photographing the survivors. Each participant is featured in a poster that includes a portrait, medical history and lessons learned.
The exhibits were produced by the Foundation of Light, Inc. in partnership with Ben Larrabee Photography. The founders, Pam Zangrillo, Sharon Kratochvil and Claudia Sullivan, live in Darien and are breast cancer survivors themselves.
Ben and Trudie with the founders of Faces of Light®
We felt it was a perfect fit to do the project since Ben doesn’t photograph the way people look, he photographs their energy. Ben wanted to show each participant’s light – which is how we came up with the name Faces of Light®. He knew he could show the spirit, hope and emotion of these women so that viewers could connect to their stories. It’s an art exhibit with a message of hope.
The exhibits have made a huge impact within our community and beyond. They have inspired women to be vigilant about self-exams and mammograms.
In fact, Pam Zangrillo, one of the three producers of the Faces of Light exhibit, said “I learned that self exams are not to be forgotten. Even after going through breast cancer treatments, I was not doing regular self-exams because I’m so cystic and lumpy. I can’t tell what I am feeling. As I worked on this project, and read the stories for the Faces of Light® exhibit, I was amazed how many women in our small sample detected their tumors by self exam. I will do regular self exams in addition to mammograms and ultrasounds every six months.”
See Ben’s portraits of the forty-two participants from the two exhibits.
Faces of Light® is a grass roots, community based campaign to celebrate survivorship while raising awareness that early detection saves lives and providing hope to those who will have to make this journey. Faces of Light ® is a continuing initiative of the Foundation of Light.
If you are interested in creating a Faces of Light® project in your community contact info@facesoflight.org. Faces of Light® is a registered trademark of the Foundation of Light, Inc.
To capture the drama of these two shots Ben used his 15 mm fisheye lens. By pointing the camera at the top edge of the retaining wall and the window molding he created a straight line axis in both images. In the hands of an artist this lens can bring a unique perspective and a dramatic effect.
Nantucket
Montana
TIP: Ben gets all his equipment from B&H Photo. Great service, good prices and they’ve got everything.
Here’s the link for his Canon EF 15mm f/2.8 Fisheye lens.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/12069-USA/Canon_2535A003_Fisheye_EF_15mm_f_2_8.html
