Romanticism School of Art

Part two of engagement photoshoot with Haley and Colter, shot in December at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, Virginia. Check out my previous post, “Love in the Museum,” for more images from this day and commentary on the shoot.

The above image is called a “first of the roll” in the film community, characterized by the white portion at the bottom of the frame. The first of the roll is the first photograph taken on the roll of film, and if you don’t wind your film too far before taking the first shot, you will get an image on the portion of the film that was exposed to light when you were loading the film, with the portion that was fully exposed to light coming out white.

The color images were shot on CineStill 800T and the black and white were taken on Ilford Delta 3200. Thank you for reading, you’re beautiful.

Love in the Museum

It’s not often that I take people’s portraits outside of my series projects, but when Haley asked me to photograph her and fiancé Colter’s recent engagement, it was a emphatic yes. I’ve worked with Haley a few times over the years, photographing each other, and I was honored to be asked to capture this moment for the young couple.

Haley and Colter got engaged at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts about a month before our shoot, and we agreed the museum was the perfect backdrop for the photos. Shooting in the museum proved to be a little trickier than we expected—I’d done a photoshoot with my cousin there a few years ago with no issues, but it seems their policies have gotten a bit stricter since. Our plan had been to shoot mostly along the perimeters of the museum, near sunny windows and away from the main galleries, and especially wanted to capture a few shots in the space featuring the tall stained glass panels above, where Haley and Colter had taken their first engagement photos on their smartphones the month before. But as we entered the space and began setting our things down, a museum guard informed us that photoshoots were limited to the museum’s downstairs atrium and the Marble Hall. He was friendly about it and almost apologetic, a wink in his voice as he said he was obligated to tell us the policy before he left the corridor, giving us a few minutes alone to quickly snap the first-of-the-roll shot above.

We had a little better luck in an alcove on the east face of the building where the original museum entrance is located. The first guard had told us that the photoshoot policy had to do with something related to copyrights, so I asked the guard manning the east entrance if we could grab a few photos as long as we didn’t feature any of the art in them, and he shrugged and said sure.

We moved to the Marble Hall and atrium for a few more indoor shots before heading out to the grounds. The day was a mix of “act now, apologize later” and asking permission, grabbing what we could in restricted areas and making the most of the approved ones.

More from this day to come. The color film stock used is CineStill 800T and the black and white is Ilford Delta 3200, both shot on Minolta SLRs.

Thank you for reading, you’re beautiful.

Rain on My Parade

It was a cold, rainy Saturday. It didn’t start off too bad—when I set out that morning, stopping at my neighborhood coffee shop for an Americano and a breakfast sandwich, the weather was mild and a little misty. I met up with the Glossed Over photo club crew and walked over to Broad Street to catch the annual Dominion Energy Christmas Parade, and by the time we staked out a little square of sidewalk, the temperature had dropped and the mist fattened into full-on rain.

The parade marchers and float-riders wore clear plastic ponchos and held umbrellas as they streamed by, grinning and waving despite the growing cold. Cheerleaders smiled and kicked, their made-up faces shining wet, the fur of mascot uniforms matted with rainwater. Over and over, the paraders thanked us for coming out in the dreary weather.

I quickly learned that my own raincoat, a recent purchase that hadn’t been properly tested out yet, was more water-resistant than waterproof, the long sleeves of my shirt underneath gradually soaking through to the skin. My hands were cold and wet, and my lens perpetually fogged and dappled with rain, making it hard to focus on the subjects in my viewfinder. I had no idea what to expect when I sent the film off to the lab for processing, each shot a gamble. Most of the color film from that day turned out to be underexposed, but this black and white roll of Kentmere 400 perfectly captured the feel of the day, grim, grey, and hazy. The above shot is one of my favorites from the roll—I love how the color guard members in their shining headbands resemble the Amazon women of Wonder Woman comic books.

One of my favorite things to capture in photography is movement, especially when the conditions are challenging; this is why I love photographing sports like skateboarding, surfing, and rodeo. It’s gratifying to point a manual-focus camera at a moving subject, knowing you only have an instant or two to grab the shot, and later find that you nailed it. It’s hard enough to manually focus your camera quickly when something is moving in and out of frame—throw in slippery, cold fingers and the challenge gets a little tougher. I stayed until the very end of the parade. By the time I hobbled home that day, I was soaked through from my head to the wet socks on my feet. My body was sore and tense from bracing against the damp chill. It was worth it when I saw the developed images and had gotten what I went out there for. It felt like an exercise in that sort of quick-draw action photography that I gravitate towards, like working a muscle I want to be strong.

Thank you for reading, you’re beautiful.