Photo by Renee Rose.
I'm a photographer and artist based in Northwest Indiana, just outside Chicago.
People have always been at the center of my work. I studied illustration at Ringling College of Art and Design, where I developed an interest in the human figure that eventually followed me from drawing and painting into photography.
I began photographing seriously in 2017. What initially started as another creative outlet quickly became my primary way of making portraits and connecting with the people in front of me.
I don't approach every portrait looking for the same thing. Sometimes it's an expression or a gesture. Sometimes it's the light, the atmosphere, or simply the beauty of the person I'm photographing. Other times, it's something quieter that develops through the experience of making the photograph together. What interests me is discovering what makes that particular person, in that particular moment, worth looking at.
Much of my personal work is made on film, including large-format photography. I develop my own film and enjoy the slower, deliberate nature of the process. Working this way asks me to spend more time with both the image and the person I'm photographing.
My background may have moved from illustration to photography, but the reason I make the work hasn't changed very much. I'm still interested in people: how they look, how they express themselves, how I experience them, and what a portrait can reveal about the person standing in front of me.
Press
The Phoblographer — Interview by Feroz Khan, 2022