Chapter Four
Spaces
Sarah-Ji
“I long, as does every human being, to be at home wherever I find myself.”—Maya Angelou
Cadence is sprawled out on the kitchen floor, crying. “They’re too small!” she wails, while simultaneously trying to shove a bare foot into one of her beloved ruby slippers, to no avail. The hot summer night seems to have made her feet swell and now she looks like one of Cinderella’s stepsisters, attempting to stick her feet where they apparently don’t belong. These shoes have been threatening to retire for weeks now, but we’ve all been in denial about it.
Cadence and her red sparkly shoes (as she calls them) are legend among my circle of friends. She and Daddy found them for $5 at a thrift store in Portland, Oregon a few days before she turned four years old, and since then she has seldom been seen wearing anything else on her feet. Total strangers squeal with delight and gush over her when they see her beautiful “Dorothy” shoes. The funny thing is that Cadence has never seen The Wizard of Oz and she glares back at these people, wondering who in the world this Dorothy girl is.
My friend Diane once commented “Everyone’s got a pair of ruby slippers that don’t fit anymore.” I suppose this is at least figuratively true for those of us who fall into the adult demographic. On the one hand, it’s funny to imagine that we all could have a pair of red glittery pumps stashed away somewhere that our big grown-up feet can’t squeeze into anymore, but that we still hold onto “just in case,” like my drawer full of pre-pregnancy clothes. And on the other hand, I know it’s true: I can’t merely don some fancy footwear and magically transport myself back to the way things were before this tornado called life whisked me away to far-off grown-up lands.
My daughter, by the way, has not yet been initiated into the knowledge of her ruby slippers’ magical powers. No one has told her about clicking her heels three times and repeating “There’s no place like home…” At five years of age, she still spends much of her time at home, and if some magic spell could actually transport her anywhere, she’d probably choose the mantra “There’s no place like Kiddieland…”
So here she is, sitting on the kitchen floor, crying over her thrift store shoes, and I stand over her, recognizing that my little girl is growing up faster than I’d like, and simultaneously wishing I had bought those shoes in every size when I saw them on sale at Target. I can only hope that she learns to find her own way home, wherever she may be.
Introduction
We are all trying to find our place in this world—our own space, if you will. Simply put, we all long for home, a place where we can leave our pretenses and defenses at the door (along with our shoes and coats). For some, home is an actual physical structure—a house, an apartment, a condo, a cabin—a space to call one’s own. Others try to find home in a broader locale, a place to put down roots—a certain neighborhood, a cityscape, a coast, a country, even a continent. Still others seek home in the relationships they build, creating a safe haven of unconditional acceptance and mutual support. A friend, a neighbor, a faith community, a corner of the blogosphere: a circle of interdependence.
Regardless of how we each define home for ourselves, the spaces in which we choose to live and love are reflections of who we are. These spaces become repositories of our most poignant and unforgettable memories, and the photographs we take in and of these spaces become pieces of the storyboard that shapes the narrative of our lives. We entrust a part of ourselves to each image for safekeeping, comforted by the assurance that we can always revisit these visual cues, these myriad moments that weave the richly brocaded and colorful tapestries of our lives.
This chapter will explore the various ways we document life in the spaces where we feel the most relaxed and comfortable—whether those spaces are within our dwellings, out in the world around us, or in the most special regions of our hearts. Often, the images of ordinary aspects of our everyday lives are the ones that we end up treasuring, for these give us a glimpse into our innermost longing for a place to call home.
The Neighborhood Laundromat
The ordinary places where we perform our most mundane rituals often create a sacred space for us to dream, reflect, and freely be ourselves. Capturing photographs of those places now will reap an abundant harvest of warm memories in the future. These images can be a testament to the diligent practice of creating home—a safe haven—wherever we may be.
Approach
No matter the location, the spaces that we are drawn to capture mean something to us. Expressive imagery stems from that personal connection.
For most of us, the mere thought of a particular special place can conjure up a host of warm fuzzy feelings. Whether it’s a childhood house, a backyard swing full of memories or the site of a first date, we store a treasure trove of stories and emotions—joy, acceptance, comfort, love—related to these locations. Taking photographs of them is a great way to amass physical souvenirs of the many memorable mile markers on our life journey. There are several ways to recognize and to be prepared to capture images of these special occasions, wherever and whenever they may occur.
Sometimes a moment or a setting may make your heart skip a beat or leap with joy. Or you may get a lump in your throat and feel your eyes well up with tears. Something in that scene calls out to a special place in your heart, and you know that you have to capture this image for posterity. You may not fully understand why at the moment, but you’ll be thankful you listened to your intuition and clicked the shutter.
Taking a Stroll through the Comfort Zone
When I captured this image at a beach near my home, I was thinking of the many other nights that I had gone alone to a beach to think, and to rest in the comfort of the vast space, listening to the chorus of waves lapping against the shore, feeling the wind having her way with my long unruly hair. Many of those nights were during difficult periods in my life, and I have never forgotten how just being on that beach in the darkness, I could feel peace wash over me. Every time I look at this image now, I am reminded of that comfort.
See It!
This image is perfectly symmetrical in both the placement of the lifeguard chair and the division of the frame where the sand meets the night sky. An eerie glow illuminates the sand, and because the light is hitting the sand’s bumpy surface from the right side of the frame, shadows are created, accentuating the sand’s texture.
Making Art can be Messy
If you want to capture life in the space you call home, be prepared to shoot first and tidy up later. Life unfolds whether or not your floors are mopped or your tabletops orderly, and if you’re always stopping to clean up the mess before you grab your camera, chances are you’ll be missing many an opportunity to capture life at home in its utmost honest beauty. The stories of our lives can’t be squeaky clean all the time and neither should our photographs.
Quality Time on the Couch
The more you shoot in the spaces that you consider to be home, the more familiar you will become with the light conditions, and how to respond with your camera. You’ll know, for example, that at 10 a.m. on a sunny spring day, your living room will have enough light for you to comfortably shoot at ƒ/2.8 without cranking the ISO past 400. Or you’ll know that you’ll need your fastest lens to shoot inside your favorite coffee shop that has northern exposure. Making a mental note of these camera settings in relation to location and lighting conditions will help you to capture memories before they’ve been lost to fiddling with dials and function buttons.
Shoot It!
Get to know your own space by experimenting. Try shooting a still life in your living room (it’s easier to start with a subject that won’t move) with your ISO at 400 and your aperture set to the smallest number your lens will allow your camera to go. Shoot a few shots, then alter your settings and keep shooting. When shooting in the evening or by lamplight, you might need to start with an ISO closer to 1600. You can also test out different white balance settings too to help correct the color of your images if needed (especially if you are shooting at night).
Perspective
Tapping into your own perceptions about a place can assist you in finding your own unique perspective and will influence how you capture it in a photograph.
We all see the world in different ways and so it stands to reason that how we see with our eyes will influence the viewpoint through our camera lenses. The way you capture the spaces you inhabit and frequent will naturally reflect your own perceptions and convey the stories that have personal meaning to you. But, on the other hand, changing your usual perspective as you observe your surroundings can transform your experience of even the most familiar of places, and can result in a refreshingly novel point of view (both literally and figuratively!).
A Daytime Peek into a Dive Bar
Sometimes, a new perspective may warrant seeing a space not only from a new angle but also in a whole different light. This image depicts the interior of a dive bar and music venue in Chicago that I have fond memories of—my husband and I went there when we first started dating. I happened to pass by the bar one afternoon last winter. Up until then, I had only seen the inside when it was crowded with patrons and illuminated by the dim light of a few incandescent bulbs. But this afternoon, the bar was empty and bathed in warm mid-afternoon sunlight, and I was amazed by the rich color and textures I saw. I took this photograph with my camera resting on one of the tables, and the final image gives the perspective of someone sitting down, observing the peace, warmth, and beauty of a space that in its nocturnal state would usually be dark, dingy, and packed tight with bodies.
Set It!
ISO: 250
Exposure: 1/80 sec
Aperture: 2.2
Focal Length: 30mm
Flash Used: No
Lift your Eyes up to the Skies
The perspective you choose as the photographer can signify the direction that you intend the viewer’s eyes to go when looking at the image. The bright blue slice of sky reflected in this shot draws the observer’s gaze upwards, where he or she can search for more of this inspirational view.
Hopscotch in the City
Choosing a viewpoint that creates strong symmetrical lines can be effective in creating a graphically interesting composition. In this image, I held the camera at an angle so that the lines created by the tiles on the ground stretch towards the horizon, creating a vanishing-point perspective. This specific view captures my daughter in mid-hop, but only from the waist down, further emphasizing her movement, and the fact that she is hopping from one black square to the next.
Shutter Sisters’ Blog, by Kate
At night the window is open and once all settles and the light gives up, we scooch down under the duvet with the breeze at our heads. We fall asleep to the nocturnal song of the peeper frogs in the marsh down the cove, earth from the day’s weeding still tucked in the upturned hem of jeans that lie crumpled in a pile on the floor. The only thing better than a vegetable garden of blackberries, carrots, asparagus and beets is that very vegetable garden, yet to be planted. A square of earth—worms, spiders, rocks, last fall’s wayward dinkies, treasures to be unearthed and tugged at. An afternoon as agreeable to the four-year-old as to his horizontal mother, who selflessly conducts scientific trials as to the healing properties of hammock plus sunshine.
Composition
In the spaces we shoot there are more details to consider than in other scenarios. With each unique compositional arrangement, the story shifts.
We live in a big wide world. Even when we’re indoors in tiny apartments, our field of vision generally encompasses more than what fits into the minuscule rectangles and squares that make up our viewfinders. How, then, to select what elements to include in our images, and in what arrangement? The right composition can mean the difference between a forgettable shot and a compelling one.
Table for Two
Those of us whose goal it is to portray the world around us with our cameras often have only a mere moment to aim our lens and capture a story as it unfolds. Other times, however, we have the luxury of deliberation and can think through what exactly we want to include in the shot, and how we want to frame it. These opportunities may be perfect for taking a narrative approach to composition. In this image, shot through the window of a café after hours, the two chairs in the foreground seem to be on a date, enjoying some peace and quiet while sharing gossip they have overheard from patrons during the bustle of the lunch crowd.
Ready for his own Adventures, by Kate
An effective way to convey a specific message in a photograph is through the use of juxtaposition. By composing a photograph in such a way that causes the viewer to either visually or mentally place two or more of its elements side by side in comparison or contrast, you can create interesting images that have both visual and emotional impact. In Kate’s picture of a moment in her son’s nursery, the juxtaposition of her son’s delightful face in front of the painting of the poem by Shel Silverstein about Alice in Wonderland makes the viewer wonder what adventures lie ahead for her little boy.
Shoot It!
Try adding something new to the frame of your shot. The key is to focus on your main subject, and while holding the shutter half way down to keep the focus locked on the subject, mindfully recompose the shot. By placing your subject in different parts of the frame, you can fit in other elements within the picture. With Kate’s shot, she clearly intended to include the wall hanging in the frame. With a little bit of planning, you can arrange your subject(s) accordingly before you actually shoot the picture.
Open-hearted
Whenever you find suitable structures already present in an environment—for example, windows, door frames, tunnels—it’s a great opportunity to create a frame within a frame to add an interesting element to a photograph’s composition, and to emphasize the focus on the main subject. In this image, the heart-shaped cutout in this wooden chair perfectly frames my daughter’s face, adding a touch of whimsy to the scene.
Set It!
ISO: 400
Exposure: 1/100 sec
Aperture: 1.8
Focal Length: 30mm
Flash Used: No
See It!
The shallow depth of field creates a soft-focus effect in the foreground that adds to this shot’s appeal. Framing your subject within a frame can be an effective way to create interesting composition, and the tack-sharp focus on Sarah’s daughter’s face takes our eye straight through the endearing heart-shaped frames right to her face and her perfectly wonderful expression.
Lighting
The lighting conditions in the confines of spaces might not be ideal, but using even challenging light to your advantage can offer a compelling context.
As a photographer, pursuing light often feels like having an affair with a fickle, mercurial and inconstant lover. It’s so easy during the golden softness and magic of the gloaming. Other times, however, all you get is the cold shoulder and you find yourself alone in the dark. Since life still goes on after the sun goes down and so much happens within the dim confines of our homes, it is a worthwhile and often rewarding endeavor to negotiate difficult lighting conditions.
Illuminating the Moment
Although there is a time and place to use flash in the absence of adequate light, you may prefer to shoot inconspicuously so as to capture your subjects as candidly as possible—people can become annoyed or self-conscious at the constant burst of a flash. In such situations, instead of dejectedly stowing away the camera, wrangle what light is available—even the dim glow of a lamp in the corner—and continue to capture meaningful memories. I did just that in this image of my dear friend Sarah sharing a moment with my daughter.
The Perfect Cup of Tea, by Tracey
“Life in our sunny family room plays like a moving picture to me. Each moment is photographically worthy in its own unique yet usual way. Seeing everything in pictures is easy in nice light. And so it’s not uncommon for me to bring our life to this room. We play games, read books, play with the dog, share tea and snacks, and snuggle. With optimum light in places like the home, we can focus on expression and details, bare feet on the floor, and crayons on the table.”
Twinkle, Twinkle, City Lights
For those urban dwellers who love to wander the streets at night, rejoice: this is the perfect time to capture your city painted by colorful neon signs, streetlights, and passing cars. In this image, to create maximum star-flaring of the points of light, and to turn moving vehicles into streaks of light, I set the aperture to a very narrow ƒ/16 and used a six-second exposure. A low ISO of 100 effectively minimized potential noise from the long exposure. Don’t let the lack of light prevent you from capturing the beauty of your city during the night. There are many ways to improvise a tripod and as long as you give your shutter enough time to let the light in, you don’t have to crank up the ISO and sacrifice color saturation.
Set It!
ISO: 100
Exposure: 6.0 sec
Aperture: 16.0
Focal Length: 30mm
Flash Used: No
Details
To illustrate the relevance of a place or space use the details of the scene. What you choose to feature will influence the impact of the shot.
A photographer’s eye is trained to look for the details, however small, that transform an image from a mere snapshot into a treasured keepsake. These seemingly tiny elements often belie the magnitude of emotions they can evoke, or the significance of the memories they symbolize. In the spaces and places we call home, these little details can be particularly potent in unlocking the door to our most cherished memories.
Untitled, 2009, 10" x 8", Crayon on Plaster, by Kate
Certain scenes call for a deeper focus or larger depth of field to effectively convey the photographer’s intent. At first glance, the colors are what you see in Kate’s austerely composed shot of a bright red-orange lampshade stationed next to a perfectly complementary cool green leather chair. A more careful examination, however, reveals Kate’s delightful discovery of a flamboyantly scribbled crayon work from a blossoming graffiti artist. It is that cleverly composed detail that makes this photograph so enthralling, especially to any grown-up that may happen to occupy an impeccably decorated home while also raising budding artists.
Make a Note, by Andrea
Andrea’s whimsical capture of a simple, humorous, and heart-warming message from recently-departed house guests is a perfect example of how the most mundane aspects of home life can be captured in photographs to tell a story or to recall a special moment. These narrative details are crucial in doing justice to documenting life in the most familiar and comfortable of spaces. And, most likely, it is these very ordinary details in our images that will elicit a smile, a chuckle, and a nostalgic sigh from us in the years to come.
Looking In
The steam on this window creates an element of mystery while adding textural detail to the image. We can guess that this is a window looking into a kitchen, with pots on the windowsill and what looks like a refrigerator in the background. However, we can’t be absolutely sure unless we come out from the cold and actually go inside to see what’s really behind the dreamy fogged-up glass.
Shoot It!
If you have a window that is easily accessible from ground level, try peering into it from the outside. Look for interesting details that can add visual allure to the image, such as streaks of dirt, flecks of paint, drops of rain, or beads of condensation. You can use a shallow depth of field to focus on those specific details rather than what is actually on the other side of the window, or you can do the opposite and focus on the inside, letting whatever is on the surface of the outside pane fade to a creamy blur.
Processing
Evocative images expressing place and time can be additionally enhanced with the tools of post processing, each edit adding to the end result.
With the digital darkroom, photographers possess a powerful tool to fully realize their artistic vision in the final image they create and present to the world. Just as initial choices made in-camera—composition, exposure, depth of field—work together to convey a specific message, post-processing choices can be indispensable in highlighting the subtle nuances of the space being captured.
This is what Tranquility Smells Like
I love the aroma of a slowly burning bundle of sage. When I processed this image, I wanted to convey the sense of well-being and pleasure I experienced as I captured the shot. Since the image was somewhat monochromatic to begin with, I accentuated the warmer tones and desaturated the colors to evoke my original mood when taking the photograph. Looking at this image, I can imagine myself sitting in a room flooded by the afternoon sun, watching the graceful tendrils of smoke dance ever upwards, as the herbal aroma surrounds my senses.
Edit It!
Processing steps:
1. Correct and enhance basic exposure.
2. Desaturate all colors by 35%.
3. Edit hues to accentuate warm tones.
4. Add split tones: warm yellow to highlights and light purple to shadows.
5. Add desired amount of vignette.
Windows to her Soul
If an image lacks color to begin with, going with black-and-white processing may create a more compelling visual impact. Oftentimes, however, the decision to process in color or black and white is more personal, and depends on the message the photographer wants to convey. In this photograph, the clutter in the background is muted by the lack of color, and the viewer’s eyes are met by my daughter’s magnetic gaze, just peeking above the sofa. The high-contrast black-and-white processing accentuates the forcefulness of her dark eyes, making it difficult to look away.
See It!
The graphic elements of this shot beg for a black-and-white treatment. The lines of the upholstery carry your eyes straight to the subject’s eyes, while all other components in the shot are subdued by the lack of color so that the little girl is the main focal point. Additionally, the slight diagonal line of the table’s edge behind the girl runs almost parallel to the edge of the sofa, distinctly framing the main subject and her compelling eyes in between.
In the Spotlight
When capturing images in close quarters, one way to make a subject stand out is to add a vignette to the edges of the photograph. This effect naturally draws the viewer’s attention to the element being framed in the vignette. In this shot (taken inside a bar), the added vignette gives the illusion that the afternoon sun illuminating the drum kit is actually a spotlight shining on stage.
Shoot It!
Try the vignette option in your photo-editing software on a still-life image you captured in a space you’re familiar with. Many of even the simplest photo-editing tools offer this feature. Test it out and see how a little (or a lot) of the vignette option can change the entire feel of the image. By experimenting with this feature, you will soon be able to incorporate vignettes into your processing to enhance the impact of the overall look and feel of the final image.
Vintage Fun
Most digital darkroom software gives the user the ability to save a number of processing modifications as one convenient setting that can be applied to different images with the click of a mouse. These saved settings may be called “actions” or “presets,” depending on the software, and can be a powerful tool in your processing arsenal. Some images naturally lend themselves to creative processing, and presets can be an easy and fun avenue to quickly apply different moods or ambience to a photograph. The shot of an antique toy stove with an old rotary phone resting on it is perfect for trying out different vintage looks.