Sunday, April 19, 2015

Meet This Week's Judge: Denise Saba


This week, Denise Saba of Catchnkiss Photography is with us to judge the "Emotional" theme. Read about why she prefers black and white photography for full emotional impact.




Shadow and light or light and shadow, does it matter which one comes first? The two elements compliment each other, so it doesn’t matter as long as they are both there, I’m happy!


It is only recently that I have found myself and where my artwork was heading. I use to care about creating pretty pictures, concentrated on technicality, composition and how much light to allow in, my mind was working over time.  I felt like my images were not good enough and really cared about what other people thought instead of listening to my gut.
I gave shooting a break as I tried to figure out what I needed to feel satisfied and complete. What were my images missing? Why did I feel that it wasn’t right?



After sometime, I started jumping onto photography blogs and seeing other amazing photographers capturing day to day living, everyday life and what seemed to be ordinary was absolutely extraordinary to view.


I can do this, I know I can because that was exactly what I was missing, missing the truth, the honesty and the rawness of life. I was lured in and fell in love with this concept.
It wasn’t that I wanted to be like other photographers but it was confirming that an imperfect image can also be perfect, every flaw, every blur, every under exposed or over exposed image was acceptable because it can be, who made the rules that an image has limitations – No one.



Step out of my comfort zone and take the next step, what was I waiting for?
So I let go of all restrictions, letting go from calculations, letting go from the norm and started shooting the moment, be in the moment, feel the moment.



I started to become more intrigued with shadow and light, depth and texture. It doesn’t really matter what the subject was, it was more now how to make the subject come alive and connecting with it.



As I grew and became more acceptable of my own art, I now started connecting with my images; it felt amazing, cause I knew where the image was going. Light is such a powerful tool and I didn’t appreciate it like the way I do now. Didn’t understand why light was so important or what you can do with light as I was limiting myself to set boundaries.
As I became more confident in my use of light and shadow, I started acknowledging depth, texture and dark tones.  WOW! There was no stopping me now. All these elements combined together were creating a deep sense of accomplishment. This was me! My images are soulful, powerful, honest and emotional.



My conversions of black and white was to take it to another level, this included pockets of light, dark backgrounds, blurred foregrounds, distinctive lines, piercing eyes and messy hair –(gotta love the hair blowing over the face look). 


Im thankful now that I can look back at my previous work and not feel ashamed but to feel satisfied.  Its such an honour to be able to tell a story that I have created and to know that there are people out there that can connect with me. It’s not for all but it’s definitely what makes me as a photographer, as a mother and as a storyteller.



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