emilyisalive
the visual record
point and shoot
when i was a senior in college, i took an intro course in digital photography. we worked on portraiture, still life, adobe editing, and we got to do a culminating final project. i thought it could be a useful skill for my dance career. it hasn't proved fiscally fruitful yet, but it's been rather fun! it was only in the last year that i got into film photography (thank you sean and emily).
i shoot digital on a Nikon D5600 with an AF-P NIKKOR 18-55mm lens. I shoot film on a vintage PENTAX K1000 with a 49mm lens. i usually edit on lightroom. most of the photos you've seen are from a trip to huntington gardens in pasadena.
i mostly take photos in a casual capacity, but hoping to do more potentially in a professional one - if only just to support my other ventures. photos for substack. bts photos. dance photos. portraiture. all the fun things. there's a science and logic and thus a specific kind of creative satisfaction in this pursuit.
what you're about to see
landscape photography
senior portraits
movement photography
still life
but first...
ya look good kid
lately, i've been interested in surrealist, whimsical stuff. particularly with office themes. maybe it's an echo of my fervent disdain for working (at least the way i'm doing it now) and the futility of effort under capitalism... i'm interested in portraiture, but that more so reflects my interest in movement and not than my actual portfolio of work. i try to keep up to date on photographers, but truly i don't know a ton. i love amber asaly's style and she's made me look at a lot of celebs in a new light. she mades them cool. pooneh ghana does amazing concert photography and works with a lot of bands i enjoy like djo and noah kahan. i like callum walker hutchinson who i first heard about when he shot connor storie and hudson williams for gq. i like maya umemoto gorman, of upstairs neighbors fame. she did a super cool project that was in gaspzine called NINE TO FIVE that was bold and subversive and c*nty asf. consider this my recent inspo board:
my highlights
the gallery
real eyes realize
on instagram, a director/photographer i follow was answering questions about photography, and he said that you should max out your camera, learn everything you can about it, and outgrow it before you get a new one. i certainly have a long way to go, but i'll keep tinkering. i'll keep getting faster on manual mode because i have goals and vision. i will not let my body slow down my brain. i feel so confident and self actualized when i see a good photo of myself. i hope to do the same thing behind the camera. to capture something as we feel it to be.
-ek